The Tension High Series
by profiler120
Summary: The confusion continues... Is Keiko paranoid, or is Kurama really stalking her? [KuramaKeiko]
1. Stage One: Keiko

Tension High

Author: profiler120

Rating: R

Genre: Romance/General

* * *

Summary: It was just a normal day at first but then... what's this notebook doing here?

This story is written first person Keiko - when it switches to italics, the p.o.v. switches to another character.

Credit: The idea for this story came from the Keiko's Demon's mailing list, which in turn came originally from the Princess Destiny one-hour challenges page. I do not remember which challenge number it was though.

* * *

Dedicated to Rose, who got me started on all this YYH stuff.

* * *

The final bell rang at the high school and the students shuffled out. I waited, holding back a bit longer than the rest. The teacher was long gone when I looked up as were most of my classmates. I purposely ignored those who lingered. Maybe I was just stressed... I sighed heavily and stepped into the empty hall. The others had gone and I was able to make it to my locker with none of the fluster of a normal afternoon.

As I was turning the corner, my foot caught on something and I stumbled. Glancing down I caught sight of a school notebook. Figuring someone had merely dropped it, I picked it up. The cover was plain blue material with no writing. I shifted my schoolbooks in my arms and flipped open the thin cover hoping to find a name inside. If I knew the person I'd return it personally, if not, I'd just drop it off at lost and found and be done with it.

I was expecting, hoping really, to see someone's name scrawled inside the front cover. I wasn't expecting to see my own name.

But there it was, blazing it perfect red inked letters.

Yukimura Keiko.

I was class president, maybe it shouldn't have been so shocking. People talked about me sometimes, it didn't bother me. Sometimes it was positive, sometimes it was negative, it couldn't be helped, but as I glanced over the contents of the first page I realized this wasn't about me serving as the current class president of our grade.

No...

This was...

I gaped.

It was... whoa.

I'd heard people were always very in-tune to their own names, either in print or in conversations, even if it's clear across a room. I was inclined to believe that, so maybe that's why I picked my name out of a chunk of text.

A big chunk.

A big... embarrassing chunk, let's say that. My cheeks flushed.

I snapped the book closed and started toward my locker again.

Okay, maybe turning this in wasn't such a good idea. I didn't exactly want the office staff reading it, now did I?

At my locker I quickly spun the correct combination on the tiny lock and pulled it open. From inside I grabbed my bag and then headed toward the shoe room to change out of my school slippers. The mystery notebook ended up tucked between my advanced mathematics and my literature.

Six minutes later when I vacated the school yard I found myself glancing around looking for someone suspicious.

Who had written such a thing about me?

Was there some weirdo on campus stalking me or something? Should I be worried?

"Yo! Keiko!"

I looked up to see Yusuke and Kurama at the school gate. Yusuke was dressed casually, but Kurama was still dressed in his school uniform.

"Is something wrong?" I asked curiously.

"Nah, I'm hungry. I was hoping you'd treat me to some noodles at your folk's shop."

I frowned at him, but it sounded about normal for Yusuke, but what was Kurama doing here? I looked toward him expectantly.

"Good afternoon, Keiko."

I smiled and nodded at him. "Do you want to come also?"

He shook his head. "Thank you, but I must be getting home. My brother is awaiting me there."

With a short round of ending salutations, we parted. I didn't watch Kurama go, I didn't really think about it. Not after Yusuke started badgering me about why my face looked flushed. I wasn't about to admit to him what I'd found in the hall, I wasn't even sure what to do about that myself. So I said nothing and he assumed my coyness had to do with me having a crush on someone.

I denied it and he teased harder, the jokes becoming cruder as we walked.

I was glad when the noodle shop came into view, I was getting away from Yusuke.

Or, that's what I planned. Only once we were inside and the greetings to my parents were out of the way and Yusuke had his bowl full of complimentary noodles, he said something that totally floored me.

"So you got the hots for Kurama, eh?"

I couldn't have been more surprised had he suddenly said he thought I wanted to play strip poker with Hiei.

"What?" I was sure my mouth was hanging open.

I hadn't thought of Kurama that way. Ever.

Really!

Well... maybe I had once or twice but it was just a passing sort of thing, it was never a real serious contemplation or anything.

Kurama was like the pretty boys in commercials, you looked, you admired, but you never really ever met guys like that. It was an exception that I'd gotten to meet him, certainly, but I always felt uncomfortable around him. He was sort of a local celebrity and I was just little unimportant Keiko.

When next to Kurama, I was ignored. I wasn't offended, that's just how he was.

"Of course not, what gave you that impression?" I asked dumbly, falling into the chair beside him.

I should've left.

Why didn't I go?

"I saw you checking him out." He slurped his noodles loudly as I watched. "Staring right at his butt."

I blinked, astonished.

I hadn't stared at his butt, had I?

No.

Of course I hadn't!

I never stared at anyone's butt, and certainly not Kurama's.

Although he probably had a nice butt... argh! Damn Yusuke!

Now I'd probably look the next time I saw him and Yusuke would be looking for it and he'd catch me and then I'd blush like crazy because he'd point it out to everyone and humiliate me.

What a jerk...

He smiled coyly and waved his chopsticks at me. "Want me to drop a few hints for you?"

"You don't drop hints Yusuke, you drop anvils and no. I wasn't staring at his butt or staring at him at all for that matter."

He scoffed. "I know what I saw. When you were walking toward the gate your eyes were planted on his ass."

"They were not, I didn't even see Kurama when I was walking outside, I was completely lost in my own world. I have a lot of responsibilities at school."

"Suuurrree, you were."

I stood up.

I should've left the first time. I wanted to check out the rest of the notebook anyway, I didn't need to be here arguing with Yusuke because he wanted someone to keep him company and be a general pain.

I had gotten just a few feet before he called back to me. "If you change your mind, let me know."

"I don't think so," I replied before stepping out.

Home never seemed like such a safe haven as it did now.

No Yusuke and no mystery watchers with secret notebooks.

I almost ran the rest of the way home.

* * *

It was almost 9 p.m. before I got a chance to fish out the notebook. I had decided to put it off until I finished my homework only to find myself totally engrossed in my reading assignment and then dinner had come and gone and then I had more homework.

If I wasn't prepping for college I might have resented the workload, but it was good for me.

The blue covered notebook came into sight once more and I found myself torn between smiling and grimacing, but my nerves were a flutter.

I was excited.

I opened to the first page and began reading. The handwriting was perfect and neat in clear red ink.

_"She was laying in a emerald nest of grass, green and perfect, the blades soft against the ivory perfection of her skin. She squirmed as she looked at me. Blood red ribbons were tied about her wrists, lashing them together above her head. Another red ribbon was tied to a perfect bow around the slim column of her neck and around both ankles, but they were loose. _

_"Her mouth was equally tied, gagged with a thicker width of the same silky red ribbon. Her words were muffled against the cloth, wet with her saliva. She squirmed against her bonds even more._

_"Beside me in the grass was a small flat rock. On it rested a silver candle holder and a tapered cherry scented candle. It was a lighter shade of red, almost a dark pink. The tiny flame at the end flickered in the afternoon wind and the sunshine beating down from overhead was warm._

_"Her skin was beautiful against the vivid grass, her scent seeping into the ground where she lay, impressing itself there. I would remember that._

_"She was covered in nothing but perfect white skin. Her collar bones were prominent below her neck, thin and fragile, begging to be licked._

_"The rest of her was equally delicious - her breasts, full and round were topped with a thin, uneven cap of wax that I'd dripped onto her nipples from the candles._

_"Her moans and whimpers were exquisite, her cries beautiful. How long has it been since a woman whimpered this way for me? I grinned._

_"This would be even more magnificent in moonlight."_

My mouth was dry. What kind of journal was this? Who daydreamed of dripping wax on my... oh my...

I closed the book and glanced at the door as though afraid my mother would be standing there giving me a disapproving stare or something. Quickly, I hid the book in a drawer.

I needed to think.

Who could have written this?

What kind of pervert was watching me and having these little x-rated fantasies?

How would I find him?

Even worse...

What if it wasn't a him?

* * *

My thoughts were just as jumbled the next morning as I left for school. The notebook I tucked into my school bag after much consideration. I was half afraid my mother would find it and half afraid someone at school would find it and think I was writing these weird things about myself.

I actually wasn't sure what else was in the book but I was betting more of the same. Today, I determined, I would read more of it. Maybe I could sneak away at lunch and take a look.

I had been startled and afraid and... yes, I admit it, excited at the thought of someone writing these things about me at first, but I'd been far too overwhelmed to want to read anymore the previous night.

Today I was just as reluctant, what if they got violent? What if tying me up and dripping wax on me was mild?

What if this was some elaborate torture manual that only started out mild but eventually got into seriously gross stuff like playing with swords and cutting open my skin and stitching me up?

Ewwww... now I was even disgusting myself, I needed a break.

The first half of the day came and went and when lunchtime came around I was whisked into helping some of my classmates and then when the other half of school ended I was whisked away to participate in student government.

I was the class president.

Yes, mustn't forget that. The book would have to wait.

Being paranoid as I now was, I locked the book in my locker underneath all my other stuff.

When club ended almost two hours later, we ran late because one of the other members had an emergency and had to run home. We'd waited for him to come back, it had been imperative for the vote for all members to attend.

When I returned to my locker I immediately went for the notebook. I let out a huge relieved sigh when I found there safe and sound, just as I'd left it.

If I was this worried and it wasn't even my notebook, what was the person who'd lost it like? Were they this panicked over it? Or had the book been planted?

Maybe it was just some practical joke? Maybe someone had seen me coming and tried to put the book where I'd find it and quickly ducked into a classroom where I wouldn't see them?

But...

Who would do that to me?

No, it didn't sound believable.

But I had made one decision. I wouldn't be bringing the book back to school again, it distracted me too much. Tomorrow, before I left for class, I'd stick it in my little cash box safe at home.

I had just snapped closed my little shoe locker after placing my shoes back on my feet when I spotted another pair of shoes.

Startled, I looked up. I hadn't even heard anyone approach me. Gentle emerald eyes met mine and I felt the tension slide away.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you?"

I heaved a heavy sigh. "A little. Anything wrong?" I was more than a little anxious about Yusuke and yesterday afternoon.

Yusuke had told him, hadn't he? I couldn't tell from the look on his face, but I wasn't about to ask either.

Kurama brought his arms around from behind his back and he handed me a plain brown bag. "Yusuke asked me to give this to you today."

I took it and stared at it blankly. "What is it?"

"I don't know. He told me not to look."

I believed that. Kurama always seemed perfectly honest. I pulled open the thin bag and slipped the contents out.

A little box slid into my palm and I sat the bag on the bench next to me and slid open the cardboard flap of the plain white box. What was it?

I pulled molded white plastic from the box and then I pulled at the opaque plastic wrap.

Why so much packaging?

When the figure from inside fell into my hand I realized why.

My jaw fell.

A hunched over figure met my eyes. A pair of comically leering eyes as the figure was bent over, a pair of blue pants around his little knees.

What was this... a bobble butt?

The butt, conveniently, was pointed straight at Kurama.

I could've killed him. Yusuke, I mean.

Instead, I blushed.

Kurama may have thought nothing of the gift, just another joke by Yusuke.

But what if Yusuke told Kurama about the non-existent butt-staring?

Oh...

Quickly I slipped the bouncing butt figure back into the packaging, not once looking up.

I knew Kurama was still standing there.

"Idiot..."

"Forgive me for asking, I hope you won't mind. Is there some kind of joke?"

I looked up to see his expression. Was he being earnest or trying to figure something out? Maybe Yusuke had told him I liked him and Kurama hadn't believe him so now he was trying to figure out if it was true or not.

Maybe I was just being a normal girl and over thinking it. Yusuke had probably just tossed the bobble-butt to Kurama in all this packaging and asked him to deliver it knowing it would embarrass me.

Yeah, that sounded about right.

"What a jerk," I mumbled as I stood. "No joke, Kurama, just his normal weird sense of humor."

He didn't say otherwise but I got that he really didn't understand what exactly was going on. I decided not to take my frustration out on the pleasant red-head and gave him an abridged explanation as I walked toward the door.

"He accused me of staring at someone yesterday, I denied it, he didn't believe me, now he's making all sorts of butt-jokes. It's typical crude Yusuke."

"Oh." He nodded. "I see. I understand how that would amuse him. It wasn't, by chance, his butt you were staring at, was it?"

I stopped and turned a half-glare on the fox demon next to me. "I wasn't staring at anyone's butt, let alone Yusuke's. If I had, he'd probably have turned around, slapped his backside and invited me to stare all I like and then teased me about it for the rest of my life."

Kurama's lips quirked into a smile. "I think most males find it flattering when a female eyes them appreciatively."

I didn't exactly believe that. "Oh yeah? You like girls staring at your butt? They do, you know."

He nodded. "Of course, I am aware of it. I cannot stop it and Youko enjoys it immensely. He says he's deserving of all his praise."

Must be something to have that much arrogance bottled up inside, I thought. And arrogance that could talk back, too.

I didn't envy Kurama at all. I continued walking. The school gate loomed just ahead.

I had just made it onto the sidewalk when a shadow moved and there he was.

Yusuke grinned like the victorious cat who had bested the canary.

"Hey Keiko, what's shaking?"

"You annoying, ego-centric jerk!"

His smirk widened and he looked past me to Kurama. "You give her the gift?"

"Of course," Kurama replied smoothly, his voice devoid of anything that might have suggested he and Yusuke were in on a big joke at my expense.

Really, if Kurama did something like this to me I'd think less of him.

"Although I hardly think it's appropriate, Yusuke. Keiko has told me you were mistaken about her staring, you shouldn't tease."

Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, that little bobble guy I got you was brown headed anyway, wasn't he? Sorry, Keiko, but they didn't have any red haired guys."

His hands were tucked in his pockets and he was swaying from toes to heels looking amused at himself.

My face flushed six shades of red. How dare he say that in front of Kurama?!

"YUSUKE! Shut up!!!"

His grin melted into a chuckle.

"I hate you."

I quickly turned and walked. I was too humiliated to look back to see Kurama's reaction to the comment and he was too polite to say anything about it.

At least, that's what I hoped.

Maybe he was just shocked cold.

* * *

I agonized over the embarrassment for hours until I decided to distract myself and I recalled the notebook from my school bag.

I fished it out.

The first page wasn't really all that long and I had read the wax fantasy already so I flipped to a the second page. The back was blank. It skipped straight to the next facing page, this time the ink was purple.

Oh, a person that enjoyed variety, great.

Somehow that left me feeling a little queasy instead of good.

Instead of the copperplate script of my name that had seemed to be the title of the first piece, this time something else blazed in a perfect set of quotation marks in the top margin.

_"The Joys of Saline"_

Saline?

Saline?!

What on earth was this?

I repressed a cringe as I spread myself out over my aqua colored bedspread, propping my elbows up and laying the notebook on my pillow as I stretched out on my stomach. The pants I'd changed into were black and tight and comfortable and I was never more glad for comfort. I just wasn't feeling "secure" in skirts these days.

I turned back to_ "The Joys of Saline"_ to distract my thoughts away from some dirty panty-peeker.

_"The room was dim and hot. Humid. The air was completely saturated and the added heat of the space heater on the floor only added to the extreme discomfort. _

_"The girl blindfolded on the other side of the room was whining, a low whimper escaping her lips. She was reclined on a futon mat, her wrists and ankles loosely bound, but not loose enough for her to reach across and untie herself._

_"No gag bound her perfect lips, but her eyes were covered. I hovered over her, staring, breathing in the perfect scent of her. _

_"Even glistening with sweat she was beautiful, her breasts perky, her hips curved..._

_"Perfect beads of sweat had formed at her temples before sliding down into her hair. Her hairline was damp._

_"Slick with her own perspiration, she didn't smell - artificial scents clung to her body, perfumes and other things. I kneeled, pressing my knees across her hips, but not touching my clothing to her wet skin._

_"I leaned over her, staring at the perfect breast in front of me. It curved upward, the nipple soft, almost beckoning my mouth toward it._

_"I obeyed, sliding my mouth over the heated flesh, licking at the tender skin. She moaned, her mouth worked forming half-pleas to release her and breathless moans._

_"Beneath the suckling of my lips and the bite of my teeth her nipple perked and I leaned back to flick it with my tongue, enough the feel of the hardened nub against my tongue. _

_"I glanced up at her blindfolded eyes before easing myself a little higher to lick at her collarbones. _

_"She tasted like salt... _

_"I drew another sweep of my tongue down toward her other breast and grimaced, pulling back._

_"She tasted like salt... and perfume."_

The text stopped abruptly as though the author had lost interest in the fantasy.

Salt?

Sweat?

Ewwww...

I flipped the page ready to read some more when there came a knock at my door. I panicked and shoved the notebook off the bed onto the other side of the bed. It clattered to the floor just as the door clicked open.

"Keiko?"

I sat up, hoping I didn't look guilty. "Yes, Mom?"

"You have a phone call."

I sighed in relief as she as quickly left me alone.

As I stepped into the hall I found myself nervous again to see her waiting for me.

"And after that I want you in bed, young lady. You have school tomorrow. I don't think it's appropriate for you to have phone calls this late, either."

I frowned and nodded. No use in arguing with Mom, so I just agreed.

Who the heck was calling me at ... What time was it? I glanced at the hall clock, 11 o'clock?!

I headed downstairs and picked up the phone.

I thought it might be Yusuke and prepared to verbally thrash him.

It wasn't.

Or maybe it was Kurama calling to apologize for Yusuke simply because he was that nice a guy.

Nope, not him either.

Instead of a male voice it was the cheery voice that seemed so smile through sound. A classmate.

Not any classmate but Asuka, the single most annoying person newly elected to the council. She had called about suggesting some ideas for the festival and I dutifully listened, simply stunned she'd not only called my house, but that she'd gotten my phone number.

A half hour later I returned to my room and the notebook on the floor was carefully hidden before I turned to bed.

I now knew what awaited me tomorrow and I wasn't looking forward to it.

Festival planning with Asuka.

I was going to go insane.

* * *

As I left the school yard that afternoon I was more than a little ticked off. My day had been bad from the moment I rolled out of bed that morning. It did not help that the other council members besides myself were finding it amusing at Asuka had suddenly decided, apparently the day before, that I was the coolest person in school.

Every time she whole heartedly agreed with my suggestions with stars in her eyes I wanted to drop everything and simply walk out of the room. Is this how Kurama felt with his fan club members or did he just get used to it?

I didn't want to think of Kurama, I thought suddenly.

It was bad enough Yusuke thought I had a thing for him and I didn't want to accidentally stare at his butt. I had been thinking about that since our encounter a couple of afternoons before and since then I'd managed to avoid both him and Yusuke.

I wasn't even on my way home today to see what else was in that notebook. No, today I had to help out in the noodle shop my parents owned. They needed a dishwasher.

Wasn't I lucky?

Yeah.

But I was going to be a good daughter and go and not complain, because that's what good daughter's do.

Most of the time.

So, that's where I went. I sneaked in through the back instead of walking through the front and met my dad in the kitchen.

He smiled, took my stuff and showed shooed me toward my workstation. I had to cover for three or four hours when the shop finally closed.

I couldn't wait until it was over. Only, half way through a new waitress turned out to be a disaster and he switched us. She washed and I got to serve.

Oh, fabulous.

I hated serving.

Still, I smiled and did my job. I was going not going to lose my temper. If Yusuke showed up I'd kill him, I didn't mind taking my temper out on him.

I stepped out onto the floor and stopped cold.

What on earth was this?

By the windows sat Kurama, not a huge surprise or anything, he knew my parents had this shop.

But with him... unbelievable...

Hiei!?

Not only that - okay, maybe Kurama and Hiei eating wasn't shocking, but... almost every table seemed to be full of uniform wearing schoolgirls.

I shook my head, totally amazed. The world was full of stupid people, I was convinced.

I delivered orders by table number, so I just grabbed the first order up and took it to the table.

#38.

You might think I'd had the luck of serving Kurama and Hiei.

I didn't, they already had their food and another waitress for that matter.

I kept my eyes averted and tried to pretend I was far too busy to notice them there.

Later, I regretted it.

What if they'd thought I was being rude?

Well, Hiei probably didn't care, so I wouldn't worry about him, but I really didn't want to offend Kurama.

Oh, well it didn't matter, did it? The day sucked.

Period.

I consoled myself that it was a Friday and I had the weekend for me and my secret pervert's journal.

* * *

Saturday morning I was woken by my mother shaking my shoulders.

"Keiko, wake up, sweetie."

I opened my eyes groggily and glanced at the clock.

7:07 a.m.

Fantastic.

"What?" I sleepily growled, pulling my blankets more securely around me.

"I just wanted you to know your father and I are going. We'll be back around 5 okay, sweetie?"

"Yup," I mumbled, wishing her gone.

It was a bad thing to do, I know. What if there was an accident and I never saw her again and my last thoughts of my mother were wishing she was somewhere else?

I really need to stop thinking ahead.

I closed my eyes long before I heard her leave the room and I was asleep before they left the driveway.

When I woke again several hours later I was content and well rested. I bathed and dressed and managed to get some breakfast down before I returned to my room with the cordless phone, just in case the parents called.

I fished the book out of my safe and flipped open to page 3.

Yeah, page 3...

I was not making good progress.

"_Only Worth a Spoonful"_

Now why did I have the image of some kinky little nurse uniform and me probably wearing it?

I wasn't quite sure how I should feel about that really.

_"The student council meeting ran long - longer than usual. I waited for my precious flower by the water fountain, carefully concealed there so she wouldn't see me._

_"So I was more than a bit surprised when she emerged with another student, his arm slung around her waist, guiding her toward the nurse's office._

_"I followed her discreetly to the said office. Inside, I followed, they didn't notice me. Inside the nurse laid her on a cot and took her temperature. She had a slight fever and she told Keiko to remain while she tried to contact a parent._

_"When the nurse left, I entered. _

_"Her eyes were closed, those lovely lashes fanned gently against her flushed cheeks. She did not seem ill and I was not worried. The nurse had told her she needed to go home and get plenty of rest and I was all for that._

_"Keiko didn't have to move an inch - I would wait on her hand and foot. Consequently, I also wanted to lick those hands and feet. I could fill a plastic bucket with hot soapy water, the light flower scented scent she preferred and slowly strip her of the clothing._

_"Her skin would be hot with fever and she would moan contentedly as I rubbed a yellow colored sponge over her skin, working her gently from her wrists to her shoulders and then downward from there. _

_"I could run the sponge over the swell of her breasts, but would have no excuse to take the flesh into my hands. Lower still I would go, the sponge over her belly, stopping momentarily to wet it, heat the sponge and then pressing it back against her._

_"Her legs were perfect and smooth. I would work from her toes up. Would she be shocked if I slipped the sponge between her legs?_

_"Would she shoot up from her bed, eyes wide?_

_"Would she exclaim in surprise? Or would her legs slide open just a bit at my urging... Would she allow me to pet her, slide the sponge against the lips of her sex, tiny mews of pleasure escaping her lips. _

_"Maybe she would even let me-"_

Again, the ink stopped. At the bottom of the page written in black ink, probably a later addition. It read simply "_The nurse returned." _

I didn't read anymore for a few hours after that. I know, I thought I wanted to, but I remembered that afternoon in the nurse's office.

That had really happened.

I mean, realistically, not the sponge bath part, it was only a little cold I caught.

Actually, it wasn't a cold, just a 24 hour kind of thing. I stayed home the next day and came back the day after and was just fine.

The problem I had, not the sickness I mean, the problem was I didn't remember anyone being in that room with me!

Was I so clueless that someone could sneak around the very same school with me and I wouldn't know it? I was very tempted to tell Yusuke, that's how worried I was.

I know I was sick that day, but I had been alone in the nurse's office, I could've sworn it!

I was wandering my way up to my room to read the next page when the phone rang. So I wandered toward the phone instead.

"Yo, Keiko!"

My bad temper returned, I held grudges well. "What do you want, Yusuke?"

"Why don't you come over? We're going to watch some movies, just hang out."

"Um..." I searched for an excuse. Go to Yusuke's? When I could stay home and read that little book upstairs?

No way.

"Um, actually I'm waiting for my parents to get home. I promised I'd watch the house."

Lame excuse, major lame.

"Oh... So you're home alone, eh?"

"Yeah," I admitted and then almost kicked myself even though it was obvious if I was 'watching the house'. "What of it?" I challenged, but there was shouting the background.

"Uh oh, gotta go."

And just like that, he hung up. I wasn't offended, I knew Yusuke. I think I probably knew him better than anyone, or at least I used to.

I had even gotten off the phone without being teased or mocked, the day was looking up.

I headed up to my room. Because I was alone I had hid the book underneath my mattress.

A girl can never be too prepared and I didn't want anyone discovering this dirty little secret.

I laid on my stomach on the floor and flipped open the book paging through to the next entry.

_Page No. 6 _

More red ink blazed across the top margin.

_"Brush Tips" _

Brush tips? That was curious, I thought.

Pages 4 and 5 had been half fleshed out sketches in varying shades of pencil. both had been what I presumed to be rough sketches of me. It was rather hard to tell. I supposed the writer of the book wasn't an artist.

_"An ink brush is not merely a tool, but an extension of one's own hand when held in the fingers of an artist. Likewise, I also believed the body could be a beautiful canvas. _

_"When combining the hand of an artist and a perfect model canvas, there, art was born. _

_"I am no such artist, but I have such a canvas. The perfect still life, her skin an expanse of plain white . How would such ink appear across the cold pallor of her skin? _

_"If the pools of black ink were painted with the utmost care, would she be a real life art piece? Would the ink smear and drip and run and ruin the masterpiece? _

_"Would it take long to scrub away the art, tinting soapy bath water gray?" _

It stopped there. At the bottom in the same plain black ink from before was scrawled a little note that read "abandoned" and a date from early the previous month.

I flipped the page.

_Page No. 7_

Like all true truly frustrating moments, I was interrupted. The loud chiming of the doorbell had me snapping the book closed and shoving it across the floor. It slid toward my bed and I assume, beneath it. I was already out the door and halfway down the stairs ready to do away with my would-be visitor.

When I pulled open the door my complaints died with a big sigh of...what, shock?

Hiei stood on my doorstep, his face impassive.

"Hn, I am repaying a debt to the Detective. This is for you."

He was holding out a package and I numbly took it. Since when did Hiei take errands for Yusuke?

"If the idiot Detective is fool enough to waste a favor _to me_ delivering some parcel, why should I complain?"

I half smiled, hardly feeling it and thanked him politely. He seemed not to care either way, he was already walking away.

I didn't wait around to see if he'd make some caustic remark about how he didn't do it for me and so no thanks was necessary, I closed the door.

I turned to head back up to my room, only halfway back up the stairs the doorbell rang again. It couldn't be Hiei, it couldn't, if it was...

Well... I could hardly see myself screaming at Hiei for annoying me. He just had that kind of 'look-at-me-wrong-and-I'll-kick-your-ass' air about him.

I pulled open the door and was immediately pushed backward by not one, but an entire crowd.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Yukina, Botan...

Oh, fantastic.

Don't tell me Yusuke decided to have movie night at my house without asking me.

"Yo, Keiko, decided to have movie night over here instead."

He grinned at me cheekily like I wouldn't throw him out, silly boy, I would throw him out. In fact, I was on the brink of tossing them all out, I didn't want them here.

"Ah, got my gift, eh?" He winked at me. "Open it when you're alone."

I wanted to kill him.

Maybe it showed on my face because Kurama, before not noticed, stepped up to me and apologized.

Hiei was not with them. Where had they picked up Yukina anyway? I decided I didn't care and quickly fled up the stairs toward my room. In the impending chaos brewing in my living room I managed to escape.

Or, I thought I had. When I almost tripped over my own school bag in the inside doorway of my bedroom I found myself being rescued.

Rescued... I mean "caught".

When I was again upright, a pair of male arms around me, I turned to see who my benevolent rescuer was.

I could've groaned.

Not Kurama...

One of the persons I did not want to see right now and even worse, he had that "look" in his eyes.

The 'we-need-to-talk' look.

I wasn't old enough or bitter enough to think I was about to get the 'I like you, but only as friends' speech, but I thought it anyway.

Oh no...

I needed to get out of here.

I headed for my bathroom.

Sanctuary!

He didn't even try to follow. Good for him, otherwise I might've lost my temper. Question was, what the hell was I going to do in the bathroom?

When I got there the package was still in my hands. For a gift from Yusuke, it was really very beautifully wrapped.

I tore off the paper, stuffing it into the trash bin and my eyes widened in sheer amazement.

It was an 8 x 10 glossy, full color and frame photo... of Kurama.

Where the hell had he even gotten such a picture?

It was official.

I was going to kill him.

Standing in the room decorated in soft hues of blue, I did the only thing I could think of that didn't involve slapping Yusuke ten or twenty times. I stripped and moved for the bath tub. I turned on the shower and waited for the water to warm and while I did, I stepped onto the scale to see how much I was weighing.

Seeing the number I frowned, I didn't think I weighed that much. I ran my fingers through my hair and stepped into the hot water.

I so needed to stop _thinking_.

* * *

When I emerged from my shower, pink and warm, I was happy. At least I was happy until I got three steps out of the bathroom and heard the commotion when instead I should have heard movie sounds.

I could smell popcorn and hear Botan and Yusuke shouting over animated movie dialogue in the background.

Argh!

The bad mood I had washed down the bathroom drain was back with a vengeance. I stomped toward my bedroom and slammed the door. Maybe they'd get a hint and can the noise.

They didn't.

I whirled away from the door and stopped cold where I stood.

"K-Kurama!"

What?

How?

I gaped.

Tell me that isn't what I think it is in his hands...

He quietly closed the notebook he was holding and sat it beside him.

"Hello, Keiko."

Oh, damn.

I hope he doesn't think the book is mine.

I mean, what kind of wacky person writes stuff like that about _themselves?_

"Hi," I said awkwardly.

I was all too suddenly aware of my clothes hanging over my arm and the fact I was naked even if I was under a pretty thick robe.

But that wasn't the point, was it?

Maybe it was the fact he knew I was probably naked or thought I might be naked under my robe. I mean, really, my clothes were draped over my arm.

Fantastic.

I forced a smile. "So, Kurama... Um... Why are you in my room?"

He stood. "I apologize, Yusuke insisted I come up and ask you to join us. I should have waited in the hall."

In the face of such sincerity, I felt my uneasy feelings wobble. "That's okay. I don't really feel like movie watching actually."

His eyes glanced discreetly at the notebook.

"I found it," I supplied.

"Found it?"

I wasn't sure if he was trying to be coy or if he really didn't follow the change of subject.

"The notebook you were looking at. I found it at school, on the floor."

He looked, this time much more purposely, toward the notebook. "It's... interesting."

I found myself smiling. It actually was nice, I thought, being able to talk about it with someone who wouldn't tease me about it.

"I was... well... It's so odd. Now when I'm at school I'm looking over my shoulder trying to figure out who wrote it and..." I sighed. "I guess some people would be flattered someone thought of them like that, but... it's just..."

"You don't need to explain, Keiko. It's perfectly natural to be ill at ease with such a discovery."

Sometimes I wondered if he was really this understanding or he just said what someone else wanted to hear. When had I become so cynical?

I had a feeling Yusuke had something to do with it.

The Kurama photo was tucked underneath my folded clothes. I was suddenly very thankful for my paranoia.

Seizing the moment I dropped my clothes into the laundry bin and held up the picture for Kurama to see. Even he couldn't hide his surprise.

"Where did Yusuke get this? He had Hiei drop it off to me earlier."

I hoped my voice betrayed how unhappy I was about it and at the same time I didn't want to offend him or anything.

"I don't know," he admitted.

His eyes drifted from the photo to me and I lowered it and then tossed it, face down, onto the bed.

His eyes followed the picture.

"Aren't you going to watch the movie?" I asked.

For a moment, I thought he was going to go watch the movie, but he didn't move at all, so I don't know what gave me that impression. He just looked at me and then smiled slightly.

"Of course, I'm sorry to intrude upon you. I'm sure you want to get dressed."

He took a step toward the door.

"I hope you change your mind about the movie."

"Um, hey, what about this?"

I motioned, without looking, at the photo.

He smiled and something in the smile made me stand a little straighter. "Keep it. You could always sell it to one of my fan-club members, it would probably go for a good price."

With that, he slipped out.

I tossed a dirty look at the aforementioned photo only to see a little sticky note, previously unnoticed, stuck on the back cardboard.

I picked it up, glancing at the small scrawl.

_"Couldn't get a picture of his butt, his face will have to do."_

Yusuke!

I was going to kill him painfully.

It was my plan originally to stay in my room until everyone left, but the scent of food drew me downstairs. The thoughts of destruction or worse in my kitchen had me downstairs in a flash.

Everything was well in order, but Yusuke managed to get a hold of me before I could literally get in my claws into him and I ended up wedged between him and Botan on the couch.

It didn't occur to me to look to see where everyone was sitting because their flick captured my attention and held it for a good hour. I wasn't sad when the movie ended and I happily saw everyone to the door. As I was locking up and headed upstairs I realized I was suddenly very eager to get back to that little notebook.

With a pang of panic, I realized I'd left it out on my bed, but who would go into my room when I wasn't there?

I thought briefly of Kurama and then discarded it. That had been different. When I entered the room I stared at the photo given to me by Yusuke and frowned and then sighed. I ended up sticking it on my dresser, it was a temporary location.

I simply didn't know what else to do with it and who puts a picture of Kurama away in a drawer?

I almost laughed when I thought of tucking his photo into my underwear drawer.

Oh, I must be nutty or something...

I picked up the notebook and turned to Page 8 but accidentally slipped and dropped the book. On the last page, the very back cover there was a little note.

"If lost, please call to return."

There was a number beneath.

No way.

This had to be a joke.

Feeling like I was probably half insane, I went downstairs and grabbed the cordless and brought it back up. I wasn't really going to talk to this person, at least that's what I told myself.

Absently, I dialed the number and waited. I heard the phone being picked up and cheerful woman's voice came over the line.

"Minamino residence, who is calling?"

I hurriedly pushed the button on the phone ending the call.

Minamino?

As in... Shuichi Minamino?

As in... alternate ego of Youko Kurama?

I flopped back onto the bed.

Clearly, I was already insane.

* * *

When Monday morning rolled around I was reluctant to go to school. My acceptance into Meiou High had been one of the shining moments of my life and it had nothing at all to do with Kurama.

It really was just an amazing school to be in.

But, the situation as it was, Kurama and I were now school-mates. We had been for almost two years now and it hadn't been a problem until present. I kind of avoided him and his maniacal fan club and he avoided me and we got along just great. We simply were not in the same social circle.

In fact, Kurama was kind of a loner when he could get away with it.

I decided to handle my day as I always did.

It worked.

Well up until the final bell when I was due for club, and then my plans all seemed to sort of fall apart.

All it took was the gentle sweep of an envelope fluttering out of my locker. I had the dreadful feeling I knew who it was from and don't you know Yusuke popped up right behind me? He doesn't even go to this school.

I swear, he's haunting me!

He tore open the envelope while I struggled to get it back. He read over it silently and his grin became an even bigger smirk.

Then he began to read aloud.

_"Keiko... _

_"If you would be so kind to indulge me, please meet me in the park gardens nearest the school. Don't let anyone see you and come alone."_

Yusuke laughed and moved the letter around like it was dancing. "Ooohh, a secret admirer!"

"Yusuke, shut up and give me that!"

Why wouldn't he go away?

As soon as I saw the writing, I knew. It matched the writing from the book and the book with the number in it had rang to the Minamino residence.

Question was, how would I get there without Yusuke either going without me or following me?

Ugh!

I finally wrangled the letter away, got my books and headed for the club room.

He was such an annoyance.

I couldn't stand up Kurama, that would be rude. Yusuke took the hint when I went into the room and left him outside.

My fellow club members were accepting when I told them I had to skip the meeting if not a bit disappointed. I was both a motivating factor and one of the major workers in the group.

When I remerged into the hall, Yusuke was gone. A small miracle. I didn't doubt he might show up or even spy on the park, I fully expected him to show up. He always shows up, especially lately, and especially when I didn't want him to.

The park near school was large and had a nice area for walking. It was close to the school sports yards and often couples went out there to walk and be alone.

I sighed as I glanced around and realized I'd have to search for him. I took a step inside and headed for the main path up by the benches and lamps when there was a tug at my sleeve by my elbow.

I turned my head, glancing back. It wasn't Yusuke or Kurama but a little old lady.

"Young lady, would you be kind enough to grab my hat? It got away from me there and the wind took it away."

She pointed to a blue colored cap hanging in the branches just a few feet away. It wasn't very high, but well over the little woman's head.

I smiled and headed over. I jumped, trying to reach the branch, but it was just shy of my grasp. I tried harder but I didn't go any higher. In fact, I was getting a wee bit irritated that it kept getting away from me so when I saw another hand, larger, wrap around the offending branch and lower it, I quickly grabbed the cap and handed it to the woman. When I turned back, the helpful tree branch grabber was gone.

What a weird day.

I received a heartfelt thanks from the woman and I continued on to find Kurama.

Where could he be? Why didn't he just draw me a map if he was going to be hiding somewhere?

I sighed.

Just as I was giving up hope, I decided to check the wooded trail. He had asked me to come alone, probably more to avoid his fan club finding him or something related to that effect.

On the wooded trail following a path of pine chips, I finally caught a sight of a flash of red. I sincerely hoped it was him because I was losing patience with this wild goose hunt, I could've been at club and being productive.

When I came up near the area I'd spotted the flash, no one was there. I was actually beginning to feel creeped out. Was someone stalking me? First the branch helper and now disappearing flashes of red in a patch of woods, not exactly normal stuff.

Or was Yusuke fooling around again? I couldn't remember what Yusuke had been wearing in the hall. Something white? Or had it been green? Argh!

I was about to turn and march myself right out of this park when I heard the call. The urgent tone in the shout compelled me to stop and I did so. Behind me, in the opposite direction that I'd been walking, he appeared.

It was like magic, pull a rabbit from a hat, plop a Kurama on a wooded trail, just like that.

-Poof-

Maybe the stress of the day was getting to me.

He didn't approach and I felt weird, so I didn't get any closer either. Several feet separated us.

"Did you call my house last night?" His voice was perfectly calm and I wasn't sure if it was a trap question or not. I didn't want to seem like a stalker or something and I didn't want to lie.

I mean, he probably had caller ID and then what would he think of that? But then, I'd called and hung up...

I cleared my throat and decided to gamble with the truth rather than a lie. "Yes, I called."

The response seemed to amuse him somehow and I wasn't sure why.

"Did you write that book, really? Honestly, Kurama?" I knew there was something between a plea and uncertainty in my voice, but I didn't care. Maybe I wanted him to tell me he hadn't and he'd written the number in the back of the book when I'd been out of the room as some sort of joke. Maybe I wanted him to say 'yes', I don't know.

His response was delayed. "I'm sorry Keiko." His voice was low and seemed earnest, but he stared at me directly not over my shoulder or above my head or at my feet.

"Why?" I asked.

Was there any question except that one and the one before it that even mattered?

**Why?**

"I have no response that will satisfy that question. I happened to see Yusuke lift your skirt once and you responded by slapping him senseless. I found the exchange... charming. I admit, Youko and I have been quite intrigued with you since then."

Since then? When exactly was 'then'?

"Was that... recent?"

"No, about a year or two ago. You've grown on us a lot."

Grown on him? Well that was nice, like I was some ugly boil that became slightly less attractive every time he saw it?

I crossed my arms moodily.

I was attracted to Kurama, mind you, who wouldn't be? He was gorgeous and a gentleman and just all around perfect but...

This whole situation just struck me as crazily odd.

"I apologize, Keiko. I had not intended, obviously, for you to find the notebook. My own carelessness, I never meant to make you uncomfortable."

I sighed heavily.

"Why on earth did you put your number in the back of the book?" That too, was an important question.

He smiled gently. "Ah, I admit that was a later addition. When I saw it on your bed I wrote the number in there to see what you would do. Again, I apologize sincerely."

I sighed. This was too much to handle. Hesitantly, I looked up. "Do you want it back? I'll get it for you."

His smile seemed to slide into a smirk. "No, keep it. Forgive me for saying, I got the impression you somehow liked it."

I didn't deny it, but I wasn't going to confirm it either. I didn't want to give it back, that's for certain.

Really, I didn't need to. All the thoughts had come from his head anyway, I'm sure there were others floating around in there.

"Um... I'm gonna go, okay?"

* * *

Kurama nodded at me and we parted on semi-uneasy terms. My walk home was troubled. I was sure the rest of the week would be no easier.

The small patch of woods rustled as the girl walked away, her arms pulled across her chest protectively.

_Beautifully done, Shuichi. This going to work perfectly,>_ Youko mentally stretched, curling himself around Shuichi inside their head as they watched.

Their eyes focused on Keiko's back as she stepped off the trail and into the grass far ahead of them.

'Yes, I quite agree. Stage One of our plan worked out spectacularly.'

_ Well then, I think we should beginning planning for Stage Two.>_

They both grinned with eerie satisfaction as Keiko finally disappeared on the horizon.

She was falling into their trap perfectly and she didn't have a clue.

* * *

Author's Notes: I think this is my first "officially posted" K/K title. It was not supposed to be like this, a series I mean. 

Well, anyway, welcome to the Tension High Series. I haven't even started chapter 2 yet.


	2. Stage Two: Keiko

**Tension High**

_Stage Two_

* * *

This story is written first person Keiko.

* * *

Okay, it has been six days since the whole notebook fiasco thing ran it's odd little course.

I was... okay with that.

Yes.

Kurama and I have not really been seeing much of each other.

Everyday at school did not count.

Okay, maybe it counted a little.

Yesterday, during the lunch period he caught my eye across the hall and well, there was something about the look on his face that wasn't... well... Okay, let's not get into that.

Well, Kurama and I have been avoiding each other. Or, me avoiding him as the situation goes.

But Yusuke, good old Yusuke, he's hounding me more than ever and the Kurama butt jokes are only getting worse. In fact, he doesn't call Kurama, "Kurama" anymore.

No, Kurama has become "Kurbutt", "Buttsalot", or "Starbutt". When Yusuke was ripping off names like that yesterday on the way home from school an old lady by a street corner caught my eye and gave me a nasty look.

I couldn't shut him up.

Finally, I had to kick him in the shin and... well, that didn't work either.

I figured things had reached their most weird, worst possible rung on the ladder of life.

They tell you that you should never say that for a reason.

When I arrived at school that morning I found a velvet pouch on my desk. Beautiful, deep purple velvet with a gold cord tied around the top. It was gorgeous, almost looked like an old fashioned change purse or something.

Anyway...

I open up the pouch and inside there's not a handful of candy, or a little trinket, or even a pack of marbles.

No...

Its chocked full of these little, flat green things. I had no idea what I was looking at. They were tear shaped and green with tiny white spikes around the edges and little red patches along the centers on both sides.

I'd never seen it before, so I wasn't about to eat it. One of my classmates, his name was Hiroyashi, took a couple and popped them into his mouth and started chewing.

He spent the next twenty minutes vomiting in the nurse's office.

I wasn't exactly charmed with my apparent gift.

Suspect number one: Kurama.

Now, I know I said Kurama was gorgeous and a perfect gentleman but... Well, let's just say he's not exactly what I thought he was.

That or I am seriously paranoid.

Since the last notebook day, he's been watching me. I swear he follows me home and I thought I even saw him spying in my bedroom window once.

Yes, go ahead, tell me I'm crazy.

I tucked the things in my desk.

They reminded me of strangely shaped poker chips, they were just as hard. Plastic-like. Or buttons without holes.

So, again, suspect number one: Kurama.

Plan of action: confront him immediately after school.

* * *

As I stood, watching torrents of rain drench the courtyard I realized something. Well, I didn't realize it as much as it was plainly obvious.

Operation: Confront Kurama was a failure.

My cute red-haired stalker was nowhere to be found and the school was practically deserted except for those, like me, who were waiting to see if the sudden rain would let up.

The whole day was a serious bust. I couldn't find Kurama, I get a weird "gift" on my desk… I would've preferred roses or something. Yusuke doesn't show, but then I'd been hoping if he had, that he would've brought an umbrella.

It didn't matter, he didn't show up. Not that I was expecting him, okay I was expecting him, but I've learned to live with disappointment.

My romantic hopes for Yusuke had died a long time ago. I'd rather swallow a truck than to go back to him. Yusuke's a great guy, just… I think I might have outgrown him a little. Or … a lot.

I turned away from the window and headed for my locker to gather my things. My classroom was empty.

In the hall, one of the remaining teachers stopped me and urged me to get home before the weather turned. It was supposed to storm all night.

Fantastic.

I grabbed my books, got on my shoes and headed out into the downpour. With my luck, the second I arrived on my doorstep the rain would stop, or at least let up a little.

The pouch I had grabbed from my desk was in my bag pocket waiting... Waiting for something, I didn't know what.

I ran, not walked, home. Water splashed up my legs as I went, wetting the insides of my shoes. My feet slid in them as I ran making me unsteady. When I got home, a few short minutes later, I was already soaked through. It was like the effort of running had been wasted.

As I got to my front door I reached to get my key from my bag, but my eye caught something.

Something red.

In a puddle of water by the step, floating on top of the water were 4 of the green odd "beads" from the pouch I'd gotten at school.

I stared at them, hardly registering the rain anymore.

I looked around.

There were more, scattered all over the yard. Not a lot, not in piles or anything. Just enough for me to see the little red spots scattered on certain parts of the lawn.

Maybe...

Maybe it wasn't Kurama?

Had someone planted a new tree and they were just blowing around the neighborhood and the pouch on the desk hadn't been a gift...? Maybe something someone simply forgot?

No...

That seemed too unbelievable.

But...

Who would spread weird green things over my yard?

I made a sour face.

Who would record weird scenarios in a notebook and watch me all the time? I opened the door and went up to my room dripping water.

I wonder what Kurama would think if I took the photo Yusuke gave me up to him and asked him for his autograph.

Would I be as nuts as I think he is?

Maybe.

Maybe it wasn't fair to call him nuts because I was being paranoid.

I pulled off my soaking clothes and dried off and redressed. Consequently, there were no more entries in the blue notebook, so that night I found Kurama's number, that was it. There wasn't anything else.

Not that I wanted there to be more or anything.

I sighed and moved toward my school bag. I had homework, no more non-school thinking.

* * *

The next morning when my eyes fluttered open dawn greeted me with a splitting head ache.

My entire head hurt.

My eyes were aching and felt heavy and my temples throbbed. I pulled back my blankets and stood up. I couldn't miss school because of a headache, I'd grab some breakfast and …whoa.

My feet touched the little area carpet and no sooner had I gotten my butt off the bed; it was it was the floor. I crumpled like an empty sail. The noise I made must have alerted my mother because moments later she was knocking on my door.

"Keiko? Honey?"

"Mom..." I moaned weakly and she opened the door, all matronly concern.

Okay, that sounded sarcastic. I love my mother, truly. She's a great mom. I told her the problem and she determined I had a fever and promptly tucked me back into bed.

I wasn't really surprised, my throat had been aching the day before, I suspected I was getting sick and didn't want to acknowledge it.

If you pretend it isn't happening... well, then you're just deluding yourself.

I wanted to go to school. I was trying to push a vote through the student council on amending the design of the school uniform. So far there wasn't a whole lot of support because the students felt the officials wouldn't take us seriously.

That wasn't going to stop me from trying.

What was the point of student government if we couldn't change anything?

My eyes got heavier and I drifted off.

When I awoke, I wasn't alone.

In fact, my "guest" almost had me leaping out of the other side of the bed.

"Hello, Keiko."

"K-Kurama..." I gaped.

Kurama was in my room?

Had my mother let him in or did he crawl through my bedroom window?

"Your mother let me in. I brought your assignments for you."

Of course, good old Minamino Shuichi, model student, model friend.

Uh oh, there's that sarcasm again.

I had to stop that.

I also really liked Kurama, despite my little paranoid theories about him.

Yes, okay, I was a little bit off my rocker. I'm becoming more and more convinced of that.

"I left them on your desk for you."

I nodded.

"And I brought this..."

He drew my eyes to my bedside table where he picked up a plant. It was... a pink cactus with good one inch spikes on it.

I glanced up to meet his eyes as he replaced the plant. "It's not a Makai plant that will try to eat my fingers or anything, is it?"

He smiled softly. "No. It's just a normal desert cactus." He paused briefly. "Did you want one?"

"No!" I quickly replied.

That little smile returned.

He stared at me and his eyes were, well, normal. Their same old green color.

"So... How've you been?" I asked, searching desperately for something to say just so it wouldn't be silent.

"Good. When you didn't come to school today, I was alarmed. I know you value your attendance as much as I. Your teachers expressed their wishes for your speedy recovery."

I nodded.

Just then, the bedroom door swung open and in popped Yusuke.

"Yo, Keiko!"

He glanced at Kurama and then welcomed himself in, closing the door behind him. He waggled his eyebrows. "Am I interrupting?"

"No," I answered.

Kurama remained quiet where he sat at my bedside in my borrowed desk chair.

"Heard you were sick," Yusuke said. "Thought I'd come over, didn't know you had company."

I wasn't sure what to say to that.

Yusuke, without a chair, sat himself directly on the bed. "So, you and Starbutt just hanging out?"

Kurama turned his head and looked at Yusuke, a bemused expression on his face. "Are you referring _to me_ as 'Starbutt'?"

"Yusuke!" I scolded, but it was too late.

He'd opened his mouth, hello disaster.

"Yeah. Keiko's a butt girl, likes a good ass on a man, right, Keiko?"

I was going to kill him.

"Get out of my room."

It wouldn't work, but I at least had to try kicking him out.

Yusuke just turned back to Kurama.

"And she like yours!" Yusuke declared with a big, mischievous grin on his face staring Kurama right in the face.

I threw my hands over my face.

Total mortification.

Kurama didn't say anything, so I peeked through my fingers at him. He was still sitting quite calmly, his legs still folded neatly.

"It's not polite to tease her so much, Yusuke."

Okay, now I wanted them both gone.

"You know," I said suddenly. "I'm kind of tired; maybe you could leave me alone for a while? I really appreciate you coming to see me, it was really sweet. Thank you for bringing my homework and the plant, Kurama."

He nodded. "Of course."

He stood and replaced the chair. Yusuke followed.

I wasn't sorry to see either of them leave.

Yusuke just told Kurama, Minamino Shuichi, that I liked to gawk at male butts and then he told him I liked to stare at his, Kurama's. I snuggled beneath my blankets.

Maybe tomorrow would be less humiliating.

* * *

I was not able to return to school the next day, but thankfully I received no visitors. Kurama dropped my assignments off with my mother downstairs.

When I did return to school I found my uniform-altering proposal had died and it was up to me to single-handedly revive it.

Well, not single-handedly.

There was Asuka, my very own fan clubber.

The girl was nice, I liked her. I'd done everything I could to help her adjust when she'd been transferred over, but she was kind of clinging to me in a way that left me gasping for air.

I left the club room that afternoon disappointed. My proposal still wasn't gaining much respect among my fellow members. They were convinced that even if we ran a school petition and got majority support from our fellow students, which in itself would be difficult, that the school officials would ignore the proposal entirely.

When I got home it was still daylight. My mother was home and in the kitchen cooking. She and my father were hosting a dinner party tonight. They were celebrating the expansion of their business. They had partnered up with another business owner and were moving into a bigger building and opening a gift shop next to it or in it, I don't know exactly.

Something I was told that was meant to draw the younger school age crowds. People my age.

I headed up to my room. No sooner had I gotten to the top of the stairs, the door swung open. I turned back.

Didn't even knock- I caught sight of Yusuke.

Of course _he_ doesn't knock.

"What are you doing here?" I called down to him.

He turned and came up and what was he holding? Another cactus.

Uh oh.

Tonight I was gonna have a good look at that cactus Kurama had given me previously. Suspicious thoughts were brewing.

"What is that?"

Yusuke spared it a glance and shrugged. "Damned if I know, it's for you. I only agreed to bring it 'cause it was from Starbutt."

"You were talking to Kurama?" I asked.

He cast me a funny look and walked past me toward my bedroom.

"Yo, what's this? Some kind of weird new hobby?"

What?

I followed him inside.

My bed was covered in green beads. You know, the ones from the bag.

I am not kidding.

They were spread out in a strange circular formation. Something that most definitely was not by accident.

I glanced around and saw no one. I went over and actually peered under my desk and then under my bed and in my closet.

I was thinking the whole time what I would say if I caught Kurama in any of those places.

He wasn't, of course.

Because Kurama was probably normal and I was the one going insane.

"What's the cactus for?"

Yusuke shrugged. "He said it was to give you a matching set. I was coming over anyway, thought I'd bring it along."

"What were you talking to Kurama about?" I hoped it didn't sound weird.

I was fishing for information, yeah.

He picked up one of the beads and pressed it between his fingers.

It sounded like it cracked.

Ugh, I didn't want to deal with him.

Maybe he sensed my impatience. "Hey, let's catch a movie."

"A movie? Yusuke, I have to study."

"Starbutt will be there. He already agreed."

I gave him a withering look. "I'm not going just because you mentioned Kurama. I am not one of his fan girls, okay?"

He plopped down onto the bed, disturbing the little beads that bounced and then resettled, no where near their former positions.

"I told Kurama I was bringing him a date, everyone's got one and I already told him it was you."

"Yusuke!"

I couldn't know if he was lying or not, so I would just have to go. I wasn't about to be rude or anything.

"Get out of my room."

"Movie at 7," he chirped, moving for the door.

"Out!"

Twenty five minutes later, I got a phone call. Movie night at the theatre was canceled. Everyone would be coming over my house.

I, of course, told him that wasn't happening. My parents had company tonight.

So he changed his mind.

Movie night at his apartment.

Great.

When I told my mother she was enthusiastic that I go. I think she wanted me out of the house and for that, I was offended.

But I went all the same.

When I got to Yusuke's I could already hear the noise inside. I supposed Atsuko either wasn't home or she didn't care.

I knocked and the door was opened a few minutes later by Kuwabara.

"Hey, Keiko."

He held the door for me. He really was very gentlemanly. I thanked him and he smiled and headed back into the living room. I sort of followed after.

"Yo! Keiko!"

He was slumped on the sofa.

"I thought you weren't coming."

Now, did I tell him my mother all but tossed me out the door or no? He didn't give me a chance.

"I knew you wouldn't pass up a chance to have Starbutt all to yourself. He's not here yet."

"Starbutt? What on earth does that mean?"

That was Botan making herself known.

Yusuke shrugged. "Eh, Keiko's boyfriend."

Botan turned surprised eyes toward me. "Keiko, you have a boyfriend?"

"Yusuke, shut up!" I snapped. I looked toward Botan. "No, I don't have a boyfriend, he just will not leave me alone about - well let's forget about that."

"Forget about what?" Kuwabara asked as he came back into the room, a bag of snacks in his hands.

When had he left again?

Ugh.

I gave a frustrated sigh and turned back toward Yusuke. "Are we watching a movie or what?"

"We're waiting on Starbutt," he clarified.

"Starbutt?"

I looked up at the new voice.

Atsuko was here!

"Keiko's boyfriend," Yusuke replied to his mother.

The older, currently smoking woman grinned. "You call your boyfriend, Starbutt?"

"No, Yusuke does. He's not my boyfriend; Yusuke's just trying to be annoying. And if he doesn't shut up, I'm going to kill him."

Mother and son both grinned.

"She does like him," Yusuke noted.

"Clearly," Atsuko nodded.

"I am going home!" I declared suddenly. I was not going to do this, absolutely not.

I turned toward the door and stopped cold seeing the person suddenly between me and the precious, precious door. I had also conveniently forgotten my parents were having a dinner party and I wasn't exactly invited. So where was I going to go, alone, at this time of night?

"You're not leaving already, are you?"

Kurama.

Damn.

"Um..."

"Of course she's not leaving. Yusuke stop hogging the couch. Come sit down, Keiko."

Oh, good old Botan. I glanced at Yusuke and his grin and Atsuko and her grin and Botan and then at Kuwabara.

"You know... I think I'm going to grab a cup of coffee, flavored very strong coffee. I'll be back."

I swung back around toward the door and prepared myself to get past Kurama. He didn't stop me though, he did something worse.

"I'll go with you," he said.

I could've groaned.

The teasing would be fifteen times worse when I got back.

I didn't argue, I wanted to be somewhere else, he just followed.

* * *

For as many weird thoughts as I had when Kurama wasn't around, I wasn't having them now.

The sidewalk wasn't that busy as I reached it and the night was slightly chilly. He walked beside me in quiet for several feet before he said anything.

"Is Yusuke bothering you again?"

I scoffed at that. "Does he ever stop?"

I noticed his lips quirk in response to the comment.

I was suddenly uncomfortable noticing his lips. I mean, this was the guy who'd written about licking sweat off me. You do remember that, don't you?

While the licking part might not have bothered me, the sweat part was a little odd.

"Have you been feeling better?" he asked.

"Yes, much, thank you. Um... my cactuses are doing good."

"Do you like plants, Keiko?"

I shifted as we walked. "Well, I've had some trouble keeping them alive before. Cactus are easy though, aren't they?"

He nodded. "Relatively so, yes."

"The only thing I've kept alive is a lucky bamboo plant and that's because it only requires me to keep water in the pot. Although it's a little weird admitting that to you, you probably grow all sorts of things with ease."

"Everyone has their own unique talents," he answered diplomatically. "It was coffee you wanted, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, mostly I just wanted to get away from Yusuke."

There was a coffee shop ahead. Actually, it was a bakery. We entered and ended up sitting down with two cups of coffee and a set of pastries.

"Oh!" I suddenly exclaimed, remembering something.

I reached into my skirt pocket and withdrew one of the little green beads from before.

I laid it on the table top between us. "Do you know what this is?"

He glanced at it and then reached for it, picking it up, examining it in his palm.

"It looks like a seed."

"A seed? Are you kidding me? That thing is a seed?"

He nodded. "It appears so, yes. Where did you get it?"

He sounded so freaking innocent, how could I suspect him when he looked at me like that?

Ugh.

"I found it," I answered shortly. "A seed from what, exactly?"

He returned the seed to the table. "Well, a plant I imagine."

I looked up at him with a scowl. "That's not what I meant."

"It looks like a Juppa seed."

"A Juppa seed? What's a Juppa?" I was suddenly feeling the little pangs of suspicion again.

"It's a hybrid plant. Sort of a vine like flower, it's large and purple when it blooms."

"Oh..." I reached for the seed and held it in my hands. "A class mate of mine tried to eat them; he'll be okay, won't he?"

Kurama paused at that. "Did he swallow it?"

"I ... maybe."

Honestly, I didn't know if he swallowed it or not. With the look on Kurama's face, I seriously hoped not.

"If he did I imagine he's in the hospital about now. That's unfortunate, the Juppa is very poisonous."

I felt horrible knowing that!

I felt semi-responsible my idiot classmate had eaten something off my desk that might kill him.

Ugh.

Why me?

Why?

"If... If I plant it, will it grow? I think the Juppa sounds like a very pretty plant."

He smiled and I tensed. It was not a normal smile. It was an 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' smile and it had that 'you-don't-know-what-you're-getting-into' feel to it.

"You could try. It might grow. I believe the Juppa needs very humid conditions to germinate."

"Oh." I was rather disappointed. "I'll try anyway."

"Well, just in case it does germinate, I feel compelled to warn you. The Juppa plant gets big."

"How big?"

"Oh... maybe one, two feet across at the base. Very large. It's a very rare plant; I'm quite surprised you have come across such a seed. They are most difficult to locate."

"Really?'

He nodded.

"Well... Do you want it? They sort of just keep popping up. It's not like I don't have enough of them or anything."

He shook his head. "No, that's fine. I really don't have space for anymore plants, but thank you for the kind offer."

I sighed.

"If you hadn't told me they were rare I would've thought maybe it was just someone's idea of a joke, but... They just keep popping up. First on my desk and in my yard and now on my bed... Ugh. Where are they coming from?"

Kurama paused and looked contemplative. He almost looked worried.

"A lot of them? Truly?"

I nodded. "Really! I must have at least a couple handfuls of the things."

"Where are you keeping them?"

Now that was an odd question, but Kurama was the plant expert so I let it go.

"Um...in an old shoebox."

"In the light or in the dark?"

Now I was not happy with him. I made a sour face. "You just told me they couldn't germinate without humidity."

"So I did," he acknowledged. "Has anything strange been happening about your house?"

Now, I was uneasy. Why'd he have to ask? Especially like that, with that serious, worried tone?

"Like what?"

"I don't know anything unfamiliar. Strange smells or weird vegetation in the yard?"

"No. Why?"

If he didn't answer that I was going to -

"Well, Keiko, I don't wish to alarm you."

Oh, great, just what I wanted to hear.

"But the Juppa plant only grows in the Makai."

My mouth must've been hanging open. Only grows in the Makai?

Only?

Exclusively?

So, some otherworldly presence was dropping these things all around me? Little, nobody that I am?

Ugh.

Impossible.

Maybe he was wrong?

But who could know plants better than Kurama?

I mean, Kurama was a what? A several hundred year old fox? A fox, for goodness sake!

They practically _live_ in plants!

"Are you sure?" I asked lamely.

He sipped his coffee.

"Quite certain. The Juppa is bulbous above ground. It gets about 4 feet tall with a large purple head that opens up. It's non-fragrant. It's carnivorous."

"Carnivorous? What's it eat? Flies? Little bunnies? Pretty little human girls?"

He smiled again. "It doesn't distinguish between male and female."

"Oh... Great... a non-sexist plant." I sat forward. "Tell me, you aren't telling me that the seed I had in my pocket and on my bed and in my yard and on my desk grows into a plant that eats humans. Don't tell me that."

"You do wish me to be honest, do you not?"

"Kurama!"

He shook his head. "There are few humans in the Makai. The Juppa mostly eats youkai. But it most certainly will eat humans given the opportunity."

"Is this some grand youkai scheme to eat me? Really? Am I being targeted by some whacko nut or is this just a youkai world domination scheme one innocent household at a time and I had the one in a billion chance of being picked!"

"Please calm down, Keiko. I'm sure it's not that serious."

"Can you _not_ be so calm about this please?"

"I think you're over-reacting. Any kind of youkai that decides to infest your residence with seeds of the Juppa that cannot germinate here isn't going to get very far and if he was planning on doing anything major, I'm certain he wouldn't have relied upon a stationary plant. The Juppa, unlike some other youkai species, cannot move once rooted."

"I'm not worried about it rooting! I'm worried about it germinating! And I asked you if I could try to grow it and you actually said I should!"

"But that's quite all right, Keiko. I knew it wouldn't grow."

I growled at him.

"Do you know how many of those things are in my room? I could be eaten alive while I sleep?"

He shook his head. "Don't be silly. The Juppa can growl, you'd wake up."

"Kurama! How can you just leave out all those little details? Like they don't even matter?"

"Keiko, please believe me when I assure you, it cannot grow here."

I sighed, exasperated.

"You're overreacting. I apologize, if I'd known it would upset you this much I would've not told you."

"Oh, yeah? Well, I think you're _under _reacting."

"Keiko. I am a master at understanding all sorts of plant life. For this, you have no worries."

I crossed my arms. I was not relieved.

"Knowing that you could germinate plants seeds in a man's heart and kill him doesn't mean I am any more at ease with having killer seeds in my house."

"Yes, but I could also root a plant bigger than your house and make it eat any youkai who dared to lay such a foul scheme upon you."

I just stared at him. "Are you offering to make my potential enemies plant food?"

He grinned at me. "Do you want me to?"

I laughed.

Yes, insanity sounds nice.

I hung my head. "Seriously, Kurama, what am I going to do?"

"Would you like me to come by tomorrow and have a peek about? It's probably nothing to worry about."

I sighed again and nodded. "Okay, but until then I'm locking the little evil suckers in the closet. And don't tell me they could grow and just break down the door. I don't want to know that!"

He shook his head. "They have to have full sunlight to germinate."

"Finally, some good news. Into the dark they go."

I paused.

"Or should I just flush them down the toilet?"

"No, no, do not do that. That would be unwise."

The tone of his voice was all the warning I needed. They would go in the closet. Or maybe I would just try to get Kurama to take them off my hands when he came over tomorrow. Scatter them around the Makai, kill off perfectly non-innocent youkai or something, I don't know.

Just as long as the bunnies in my back yard... and me... are perfectly safe.

I stood up. "Shall we head back?"

He agreed and we left. The night was the same, no warmer, no cooler. The walk back was quick and relatively short. The killer seed was in my pocket.

Suspect number one had turned out to be a failure. Because, in all honesty, I believed him.

You couldn't stare Kurama in the face and _not_ believe him.

We returned to Yusuke's to find everyone very involved in the movie. I settled on the floor by Botan's legs and watched. I don't know where Kurama sat, Kuwabara somehow ended up on the other side of me filling me in on the movie action and what I'd missed.

He really was a nice guy.

Yukina was a lucky girl.

The night ended soon after, Kuwabara walked me home. When I got home, my parents were still entertaining, so I went straight to bed. My mother saw me come in, so I didn't worry about them not thinking I hadn't come back.

Tomorrow, Kurama would be at my house. I wasn't quite sure how I felt about that yet.

* * *

School was a blur. All I was thinking about was the security of my house. As I got home that afternoon to wait for Kurama, he had told me in the hall he needed to take care of something and he'd be there in about an hour... As I waited, I started peeking around.

When I found the first seed in my desk drawer hidden in a stack of pencils I was a little alarmed.

When I found another in the pens, and another in the paper clips and another in the bottom of my files and on top of my little bookshelf; I was freaking out!

I was _throwing_ clothes out of my bureau when I heard a startled "oomph!" from behind me, only to see that I'd tossed a pair of sweat pants at Kurama's face and caught him square in the middle of it.

"Oops..."

He refolded the pants and gingerly set them upon the bed, taking into account the mess I'd made of the place.

"May I inquire as to what you are doing?"

I turned to face him. "I'm going insane."

He just stared at me. "I found 29 seeds! 29! That's 29 that I didn't have yesterday! In my desk, on my rug, beneath my chair cushion, look, look! In my underwear drawer there were so many I couldn't count them all!"

There was that smile again.

"Fix it! Can't you fix it? Where are they coming from? It's like ... they don't have legs in seed form do they? This is like having roaches or termites, they're reproducing or something!"

He actually laughed. "I assure you, they are not reproducing. Seeds do not perpetuate more seeds."

I put my hands on my hips. "Biologically, I know that. But these aren't seeds, Kurama, not normal ones. These are people eating nightmares from another world; I do not consider them subject to normal biology."

He looked amused.

"I'm infested with them."

He looked at me and carefully said. "They're not going to grow."

"Well maybe I just don't like them otherwise. I mean... that's not the point!"

I sat down heavily on my bed.

"It's weird and scary, Kurama."

He kneeled before me. I had folded my hands together in my lap and he leaned down and sort of nuzzled his face against the back of my hand. I felt his lips press a small, chaste kiss upon my skin before he looked up at me once more.

"Keiko, I would never reassure you of your safety if I wasn't absolutely positive of it. If it would make you feel any better I could grab something from my garden for you? A sort of botanical guard?"

"What's a botanical guard? What do you mean by that?"

I was touched he was being so considerate. I really was.

"Something that would eat the Jubba if it did by some freak accident, sprout."

I gave him a hard look. "Tell me you're kidding. You're not actually suggesting that I put a plant that will eat another plant in my room when that plant sounds like it would eat both of us?"

He didn't say anything immediately.

"You mean it really would eat both of us?"

"Well, it wouldn't, but biologically, it could, yes."

"What do you mean, 'it wouldn't but it could'? That doesn't make any sense at all."

"I mean to say, that no plant that I have grown, in other words, no plant that I am master of, is going to do anything to you."

I frowned. I felt like I was pouting.

"At this rate, maybe I should just move out for a while. I didn't find them anywhere in the house but here, my room."

He didn't say anything.

"You're not going to disagree? Kurama!"

He looked back up at me with a smile. "You're right; you shouldn't have to move out. Although if you feel you'd be safer somewhere else, I wouldn't not encourage it, but how would you explain that to your parents?"

I fell back onto the bed and he stood up.

"You going to look around?" I asked, voice tired.

There was a snort from the doorway. "Look around for what; I think it's quite obvious what's happening."

I shot to my feet.

Hiei?

Hiei!

Hiei was in my bedroom doorway!

And there was a light blue bra right at his feet.

Ugh.

"Quite obvious how?" I asked.

Was Kurama holding out on me again?

Hiei picked up one of the little seeds and examined it. "It looks like an offering."

"A what?" I asked dumbly.

"An offering woman, are you listening? A youkai has given you a gift. A sign of protection, a territory marking."

My knees felt weak.

My legs buckled and I landed on my butt.

"You don't mean to tell me... I'm being... courted!"

He tossed the seed onto the bed and just shrugged. That was all the answer I was getting.

He asked Kurama something I didn't catch and I just sat there.

An amorous youkai was, had been, in my bedroom and they could discuss business as usual?

What was I missing here?

What?

"I'm afraid I'll have to go for today, Keiko. Did you want me to give you the guard or no?"

"No," I answered numbly. I didn't get up and he came to kneel beside me, taking my hands.

"Keiko," he murmured softly. "It's all right. Please don't let Hiei alarm you. This is truly very minor. I will handle it for you."

"Yeah," I answered absently. "Grow a plant bigger than my house and eat him..."

Hiei did something of a snort, even though I didn't look up, he sounded amused.

Kurama helped me onto my feet. "I'm sorry I can't stay and help. I would just gather the rest and put them with the others."

I sighed as he helped me to sit on my bed. Clothes were tossed all about me.

"Okay."

He left a few minutes after that.

I was tired.

I was worried.

I was scared.

I wanted to break something.

* * *

I camped myself outside of Kurama's homeroom the next afternoon waiting for him to come out. The second he emerged I latched onto his sleeve.

"Are you busy?"

He smiled at me. "Of course not, do you have need of me, Keiko?"

There was something just a tiny bit suggestive about the way he said that, but I was going to ignore it.

"Well, I'm a little worried, can we talk?"

"Certainly."

I also ignored the nasty looks from other girls I was getting for walking with Minamino Shuichi, school stud.

I didn't ask anything until we were well outside the school gates.

"So, are there bat youkai? Or maybe rat youkai? How about mouse or snake youkai? Cause I've been thinking and I'm actually a little bit worried about what kind of youkai could be sneaking into my house and stuff."

"I don't think narrowing down the type of youkai will help any."

"Why not?"

"Because it wouldn't help you any."

"But it would help you..." I protested. "And if it was a mouse youkai, couldn't I just set a trap? A little cheese or... um… peanut butter!"

He stopped me on the sidewalk and took my face in his hands and looked at me. "Did you sleep last night?"

I tried to twist away, but he held me fast. "I was busy last night, thank you."

"With what?" he asked.

"Searching for deadly, albeit inactive Juppa seeds and trying to youkai-proof my room, of course."

He checked a laugh. "Keiko... You can't youkai-proof your room with anything short of holy wards, please don't try. Go home and sleep."

"But that's it. I can't sleep. I can't."

"Come on, I'll walk you home."

We walked in silence. Somewhere along the way, Kurama reached for my hand and I was happy he had. Something about him next to me made me feel safer, less vulnerable.

When we got to my house we ended up in my kitchen with Kurama waiting on me. He had insisted he be allowed to make me tea and I was really too fidgety to argue.

He coaxed me into talking about homework and then we drifted into his knowledge of plant life. He promised to bring me something the next afternoon, one of his favorite plants and I agreed.

If it got him to my house with me, I didn't care why he was coming.

At first, I thought it was because I felt safer with him around. But as I was leading him up the stairs...

He had convinced me to show him where I was keeping the seeds.

As I was leading him up the stairs, I realized that he was actually leading me, my feet felt kind of heavy and I was really, really tired.

We didn't make it to the closet; he led me directly to the bed. As my head hit the pillow, I wondered if he'd planned that, leading me upstairs so I would sleep. I couldn't bring myself to be angry at him though, I was too tired and my bed felt good.

As my eyes drifted closed, I wondered.

What had been in that tea?

I was just on the back edge of consciousness when I thought I felt lips press against mine.

But then, I told you before, I was going insane, remember?

I probably imagined it.

* * *

As I stared out my window, a little white creature dashed across my yard. It was bigger than a bunny.

It was sleek and thin and quick.

It seemed to glow under the moonlight.

I caught sight of it again as it moved across the space from the bushes to my front door. It ran, straight at it, and vanished right through the wood.

It took me a moment to realize that.

When I did, my heart began to pound in complete terror. What that it? Was that the youkai planting seeds in my bedroom?

I almost ran from my room and then ran back in. What should I do? He had to be coming up here. I ran into the hall and then back once more and ducked under my bed.

He'd probably smell me.

I was probably sweating fear.

I trembled, I couldn't move. I watched as a pair of feet appeared underneath my door. I could see them.

And then it swung open.

Slowly, but not as though they were sneaking, as though they knew no one was in the room or that they wouldn't be caught.

I could see a pair of thin legs and white cloth and just a glimpse of white fur. As the figure stepped further inside, I scooted back further, deeper under my bed but there wasn't any indication the youkai saw or heard or sensed me at all.

I heard the creature take a deep in-drawn breath and a soft, contended purr rumbled in its chest.

Actually, it was kind of loud. Maybe it was a growl.

I watched him move around as much as I could see him and heard my drawers being opened and the sound of what could only be little seeds being dropped in among my possessions.

Who was this?

I told myself to sprout a backbone and catch him in the act and then firmly reminded myself this was a youkai and I was a human.

As the mystery feet moved from near my window toward my doorway I wiggled myself toward the end of the bed and peeked out. As the figure passed I caught sight of the reflection in the mirror.

White and gold stared back at me.

Stiff ears with blushing pink insides ticked with movement as they hunted for sound.

My mouth fell open in astonishment and those golden pools glinted and darted toward the mirror and met my eyes there.

A smile drew upon his lips and suddenly, he winked at me.

I just laid there.

I swore I forgot how to breathe.

Then he was gone.

A flash of white light or fur or... something.

But all I could remember was golden, glinting eyes.

The golden eyes of Youko Kurama.

* * *

My eyes fluttered open lazily, but I felt strangely awake.

Youko Kurama.

At first I didn't see anything in front of me, but then my eyes focused and I was staring into another set of eyes.

Deep, concerned... green.

I freaked. I screamed.

It-... Kurama?

I must have said it aloud because he apologized. I don't know, maybe I didn't say it aloud.

"What are you doing here?"

"I brought you the plant, remember?"

I sat up. I just stared at him.

I was angry.

I felt ... betrayed.

How could he look me in the eye and ...

"Did you do this to me?" I asked.

He looked at me blankly. "Pardon?"

"Did you do this? This?" I made a grand motion about my room. "Did you put these seeds in here? Was this _your_ idea?"

He just stared at me and I got angrier.

"How could you? How could you look me in the face and ... and go on about some other youkai that was... "

I almost choked.

I felt tears, angry tears, hurt tears.

I had believed him!

It was...

It had been him the whole time!

And he didn't deny it!

"How could you? And just what was the point of all this stupidity? How could you do this to me knowing I'd worry? Knowing I couldn't sleep?"

"Stupidity? I am most offended. The Juppa plant is one of my most beautifully lethal plants. It is a sign of my protection of you. My claim. My offering, Keiko. I've marked you with it; I've bathed you in Juppa seeds."

I frowned at him.

"At the very first hint of danger, the Juppa would sprout and devour anything that dared to harm you."

I growled and climbed out from beneath my blankets. "You told me it wouldn't grow here!"

"It won't. These seeds are part of my garden, part of my stock. They require my energy to grow and feed. "

We stared at one another for several tense moments and Kurama apologized.

"I'm sorry that it has upset you. Does this mean you are rejecting me?"

"Why couldn't you have just done something normal? Ask me to a movie?" I asked weakly. "Dinner, maybe? Something nice, easy, normal..."

I stared at my hands.

He moved and the sound drew my attention, but it was the look on his face that worried me.

"Because I am not normal, Keiko. I am a fox."

He left, quicker than I could find the words to stop him and I had the distinct impression I'd just hurt his feelings.

* * *

Kurama stared at his bedroom wall with a frown on his lips. Keiko was upset, beyond upset perhaps. He was more than a little disturbed at the look upon her face when he'd left.

Like he'd willingly put her into danger and betrayed or abandoned her to it.

The Juppa was harmless...until it threatened the potential mate of its master, hence him.

_Our claim, our offering was acknowledged. You asked her direct, if she rejected us, and she did not._

'That may be so,' Shuichi acknowledged. 'But that simply may be because she didn't quite know what to make of it all.'

_Nonsense. We did choose her because we thought she was different than the other human females. Because she knew what we are and she could live with us, as we are, in this world._

'Our reasons do not matter if she rejects us.'

_Do you wish to abandon our claim?_

'She has not rejected our offering.'

_So that means..._

'We will move on to Stage Three.'

* * *

Author's notes: This pairing isn't one of my normal things, but it's my third YYH fic so I'm not as uncomfortable as I once was.

Sailor Panda: I got forgot about the purple ink entry, I meant to take that out, oops. You're right, first person pov's are hard to write and it's very easy to go OOC, I'm almost sorry I wrote this one that way, but there's no way I'm going back to change it. These chapters are monstrously long. The break was in the wrong spot, when I saw that I could've smashed something.

Reviewers: You've been sweet, thanks. I was nervous about this story, I so suck at humor.


	3. Stage Three: Keiko

Tension High

Part III – Version 2

* * *

The halls were practically empty the by time I started heading toward my club room. Asuka, with bright eyes and bouncy pigtails, was waiting for me outside the door.

"Good afternoon, Keiko-san."

Yeah, she seemed like her normal bouncy self.

"The others are inside, but wait…"

I stopped, noting she looked a tad bit concerned. "I heard this morning that Hiyo-san is trying to get the uniform bill dropped."

She dropped her voice and whispered as though passing on a secret. I knew already that Hiyo was against the uniform plan, the girl liked our uniforms as they were.

I didn't.

I wasn't particularly fond of the odd red jackets or our school symbol, but I could understand the reluctance to change it. The others were proud of our colors and symbol and there was some, well, a lot of people who weren't thrilled about me trying to change things.

I nodded. "Okay, thanks for telling me."

This could very well make me the most unpopular person in school and as of right now, I wasn't really well known. I kind of liked that, being somewhat anonymous.

As I stepped around her reaching for the door, I caught sight of a bright head of red hair, but it vanished just as quickly. I stepped into the club room and forgot all about it.

When club ended almost two and a half hours later, I was more than ready to go home. Asuka was right by my side as I left, babbling on about a class project she was doing.

"Oh! Guess what? I got assigned to Minamino-san's group!"

That almost stopped me in my tracks.

Kurama? Asuka _knew_ Kurama?

"Minamino-san? You mean Minamino Shuichi?" I asked numbly.

She nodded with a small, proud smile upon her lips.

"I know. I was amazed, too. He's so nice!"

She sounded so star-struck. I was a little bit … well… I'm not sure how I felt about it. I wasn't happy, let's put it that way. It was a sudden sour kind of feeling. Really, it was beyond description.

I wouldn't call it jealousy, definitely not.

But it was definitely some kind of infringement feeling.

Forget it, I wasn't thinking about it anymore.

By now we had reached the slipper room and I changed into my shoes. Asuka continued to talk telling me about the project specifics. It was a science project on plants.

It sounded boring.

It sounded boring until she mentioned a trip.

My head snapped up. "A trip?"

"Yeah. The four of us decided to go up to the Kansai Park to collect leaves. We're going Saturday, I can't wait! I've never been to the Kansai Park!"

"You're all going together?" I asked.

Asuka nodded as she snapped the ties on her own shoes and stood with her bag. "Yup. By magnet train."

I grabbed my bag and headed for the outer door. As I stepped outside a gentle wind blew against me and the scent of flowers seemed to cling lightly to the air.

"That sounds like it'll be fun."

What else could I say?

I quickly scampered down the steps and toward the gate. I had gotten maybe halfway to the gate when from my pocket there was a hum. I withdrew the little cell phone my mother had given me only a week ago.

"Hello?"

I listened.

"Keiko, sweetie. Your father and I are going to be late tonight; we have business to tend to. So make sure you eat well and we should be home before midnight, okay?"

"Okay. I'm going to go buy the store and do some grocery shopping. I picked up the list you had on the fridge."

"Oh! I was wondering where that had gotten to. Okay, don't be out too late and lock the doors."

"Yes, mother."

I smiled and the phone call ended a moment later.

As I clicked the phone shut and tucked it into my pocket and looked up I found Asuka and I were no longer alone.

"Good afternoon, Keiko."

I blinked, a little astonished to see Kurama there so suddenly.

"Good afternoon, Minamino-san."

He didn't seem surprised by addressing him so formally. Had I given him permission to use my first name?

"Good afternoon, Miyako-san."

Miyako was Asuka's last name. Something about his formal address with her soothed my previously ruffled feathers.

Asuka stared at us, glancing back and forth as though dumbfounded. "You two know one another?" she asked, her voice dipped slightly with awe.

Kurama glanced back at me. "Keiko and I have known one another several years. Please, Keiko, no need to be so formal, feel free to use my given name. I would be honored."

I frowned at him. "I'm not sure I'd like other people to know we've been friends for a while," I answered. "Your fan club isn't the most friendly group of people."

It was a lame answer, I know that. It was reasonable, but lame. That wasn't really why I wanted not to call him by his first name.

That was just denial.

Yes, I knew I was in denial and I was happy about.

Deny, deny, deny.

I deny everything.

They were both staring at me, had I said something stupid out loud?

I cleared my throat awkwardly.

"I was just telling Keiko about our botany trip." Asuka smiled broadly, clearly excited about the upcoming trip she and her partners were taking.

Kurama was looking at me. "We're going up to the Kansai Park to collect leaves. We're doing a pressed leaf booklet."

I nodded. Asuka had told me all about it already.

"Would you like to come along?"

I quickly shook my head. "No. No. Of course not, I have other things to be doing. I'm sure you'll have a good trip."

He frowned at me.

"Shall I walk you home?" he offered.

"Oh, no I'm okay. I'm not going home, I'm going shopping for a few things for my mother."

He nodded and turned toward Asuka. "May I walk you home?"

Asuka blinked and nodded and I watched them walk away not liking the feeling I was having.

Why was he walking _her_ home?

Quickly, I headed the opposite direction. The store I was going was actually in the same direction that Kurama and Asuka were going, but I wasn't going to follow along behind them.

Ugh.

By the time I reached the market by a long roundabout way, my feet were kind of tired and I was irritated.

Very irritated.

In fact, my willingness to tolerate Asuka and her following me around was very quickly dying. It had more to do with Kurama than I wanted to admit.

I didn't like Kurama.

He wasn't mine.

Well, okay, I liked him, certainly.

No one doesn't like Kurama, but I had no right to feel jealous. None.

Although, there was that whole seed offering protection thing that Hiei had told me about.

What did that mean?

I wasn't sure…

Courting…

He was courting me, wasn't he?

Ugh.

How dare she get involved?

Did I have to worry about rivals, too?

Was Asuka a rival?

I wasn't sure about that either.

As the doors automatically opened, I found myself disappointed. Was I really getting this worked up over a guy I really didn't have anything to do with?

Yes.

Ugh.

I was pathetic.

"Yo! Keiko!"

Yusuke was a welcome distraction. He was carrying a couple of bags.

"What's that?" I stopped to stare at him, glancing at the bags as though I wanted to see right through the paper.

"Food. Come on."

"Food?" He started walking ahead of me and I followed him. He was obviously going toward my house; his mother's apartment was on another street. "What did you bring food?"

"To eat."

I blinked. Obviously it was going to be eaten. Why was he bringing food to my house?

"I mean what for?" I asked patiently.

"Why not? Everybody needs food," he answered. He walked up the pathway to the house and waited for me to unlock the door.

What was I in for?

He took the key from my hands and opened the door and walked on in. Leave it to Yusuke to just welcome himself…

I sighed and pulled my key from the door and stepped inside. Yusuke had already gone through and was in the kitchen. I could hear him bustling around in there.

I followed him to the kitchen and saw him sitting at the table with boxes of food.

"What are you doing?"

He looked up suddenly and then out the window. Then he gathered the stuff up again and headed out the back door.

Bewildered, I followed.

"... Yusuke!"

He ignored me.

Outside was a small table my parents and I sometimes had dinner at. He set up the food there. I watched until he looked up and sort of... glared.

"Sit down already..."

Curious, I did.

"What's with the food? I don't think you've ever brought food to my house."

He shrugged, as if disinterested. "So, what's going on with you and Starbutt?"

I sighed. He was still calling him that?

"Nothing, what makes you think so?"

He grinned and it was the 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' grin that I hated.

What did he know?

"I've been hearing things."

I sat forward. "Things? What kind of things?"

Yusuke picked up a rice ball and started chomping away leaving me to wonder. I followed his lead, eating slowly and wondering, watching him avidly.

As he reached for another, I slapped his hand. "Yusuke!"

He laughed. "Hiei told me you got an offering."

He said it so seriously that I felt like I'd just been dropped into a vat of ice water.

"What?"

"An offering... Hiei told me you had your room full of seeds or something and that it was an offering from Kurama."

With him suddenly switching back to Kurama's name I was even more worried.

"What does that mean? Is it bad?"

His eyes widened slightly. "Bad?" He stared at me a minute and started howling with laughter.

I growled. "Yusuke Urasmeshi!"

I almost jumped to my feet.

_"Is he offending you?"_

Yusuke's laughter died abruptly and we both turned startled eyes toward the interrupting voice.

Kurama... was in my back yard.

I cleared my throat. "I... hello, Kurama."

What on earth was I supposed to say?

And what did that mean? Was he offending me? Didn't Yusuke always offend me?

What did you say to a youkai that was courting you?

"Um... Kurama... could we talk?" I asked, daring to look at him directly.

Yusuke watched, grinning, reaching for more food as though he were in the front seat at a theatre.

"Certainly."

He glanced at Yusuke, but didn't ask him to leave. I would have, but I know he wouldn't have left.

"Um... About this courting thing... "

Kurama sat himself down at the table and peered up at me. He sat right next to Yusuke.

Was... that significant?

I wasn't sure.

"Um... What exactly does it mean? Youkai courting? That's what's happening, right?"

He nodded very calmly. "Youko and I have chosen you."

"C-Chosen me? Yes, I realize that. Could you explain the procedure?"

He smiled faintly. "Very simple, Keiko. Stage One: attract your attention; turn your eyes toward us. Stage Two: secure our mark upon you, prepare and give an offering, a sign of our territory and protection."

I nodded. "And what? Stage Three?"

He smiled again. "Stage Three is more complicated and I'm afraid I cannot explain it to you."

I frowned. "Why not?"

"Because then you would not respond to it as I want and then it would be pointless."

"I'm not happy about this."

He didn't seem to note the comment at all.

"Really." I sat back down. "I'm not happy with all this secret planning or what not and how exactly did you get into my room? I found seeds all over. What were you doing my underwear drawer?"

I dropped my head. Why did I have to have a sudden image of Kurama sniffing my panties?

I was completely nuts.

It was official.

Yusuke, again, erupted into laughter. Only now he'd laid his head on the table and was banging his fist on it. I regarded him coolly, a look he completely missed.

Kurama didn't acknowledge him at all.

"I apologize, that was most... intrusive of us."

There was a smirk on his lips at that.

"But I assure you it was most essential. The most important territory marker of all, that wasn't placed directly upon your person, of course."

He smiled as though he had just successfully told me how to parallel park or something.

Ugh.

"So, does this mean what I think it means? If I go to the library and look up fox mating will I find out what's going on here or is this a youkai thing?"

There was a snort of repressed laughter and I turned to see Hiei was lounging in my back yard tree.

Okay, now this was too weird.

I looked back.

Kurama looked even more displeased.

"My offering is not intended to draw males into this territory, but to keep them away."

His voice was like stone.

I stared at him, semi-astonished at the sound. Was he angry?

"Yo, Hiei. What's up?" Yusuke had recovered enough to speak. "You here to see Starbutt stake his claim on Keiko?"

Hiei hopped down. "Starbutt?" he asked.

"I cannot believe this... " I muttered.

"Keiko thinks Kurama has a hot ass," Yusuke answered. I slapped a hand to my face. He didn't really just say that... to Hiei of all people!

I couldn't look to see if he was staring at me.

"About this claim thing... what am I supposed to do, exactly?" I mumbled, staring at the table.

"Nothing," he responded. "I wish you only to react as you normally might. That is how a courting works, no different than dating amongst humans."

I looked up. "No, I think dating amongst humans is a tad bit different."

"Not that much, hey, since this whole thing is going so well, why don't you just skip the rest of the stages and get it on?" Yusuke grinned.

"Yusuke! Don't be crude." Kurama shot back.

I was actually a little more worried at that.

'Get it on?'

Oh my..

OH... MY...

Don't tell me this thing was a prelude to sex?

My face colored as I recalled the notebook entries.

I shot to my feet. "I gotta go."

Yusuke was grinning wider.

I escaped into the house and didn't look back.

* * *

The next day when I was in counsel I found myself unprepared. 

"We have a special order of business today..."

I looked up.

"It has been brought to our attention that Mai, our treasurer, is no longer able to keep up with her workload. She has decided to resign the position, effective immediately, and so we need a replacement. We have such a replacement in mind."

Huh?

I hadn't seen Kurama practically all day. The others had gone from my back yard within an hour the previous night. I had discreetly peeked out at them through my windows, but they never came back up to the house and my parents were home just short of midnight.

I was actually asleep then, but I'd woken at the noise they made downstairs.

"A replacement?" I found myself asking. The others turned toward me. "What replacement?"

Replacements were required to be voted in the rare exceptions of emergency replacements and then the counsel president could choose them.

"Since we are in immediate need of a president, I have already assigned the new position."

Eh?

The position was filled?

With who?

When the door opened and _the replacement_ walked in, I really wanted to kick myself. I should've seen it coming. My paranoid brain should've warned me.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Counsel, please welcome our new treasurer, Minamino Shuichi."

Minamino… Shuichi…

Ugh.

I almost shot out of my chair; instead, I quickly diverted my gaze toward the desk.

"Thank you, I hope my stay here will be productive. His voice was the same confidant tone it always was.

I sighed.

I spent the entire session, trying to avoid looking at him.

I was the first one out the door. Was I avoiding him?

Yes.

Did I want to avoid him?

Yes.

I had just gotten to the exit doors when I was suddenly pulled aside. I didn't recognize the person readily.

"Yukimura-san?" his voice was soft and that was when I realized who he was. He was on the boy's soccer team, but his name escaped me. All the girls thought he was really nice. I didn't really know him.

"So.. um, are you busy say, next Tuesday?"

I shifted. Was this guy asking me on a date?

"She cannot."

We both turned to see who was talking. When I met green eyes and an expression just slightly less than neutral, I almost slapped a hand to my forehead.

I _almost_ blurted out 'Kurama!'

"M-Minamino-san!" the boy exclaimed.

"Kirishima-san..." Kurama's voice was still and held a dangerously sharp edge to it. He advanced toward the other boy and I was almost scared by the prediatorial look there.

Actually Kirishima, which I now remembered was his name thanks to Kurama, looked kind of familiar, but I couldn't place the face exactly. Where was he from? Aside from the fact we went to school together? In the mean time, the look on Kurama's face hadn't softened.

"I'll warn you only once, do not make trouble for Keiko."

The other boy nodded quickly and then almost dashed for the door. I turned toward Kurama with a glare.

"There's no need to be so harsh. I could take care of myself, thank you very much."

I could.

Besides, Kirishima looked perfectly nice. Kurama didn't acknowledge my comment at all, instead, he smiled slightly. "Shall I walk you home?"

"No! You cannot just chase off my would-be suitors and then offer to walk me home."

He shook his head. "I have an earlier claim, Keiko. It is within my bounds to defend it and you did not reject my offering for you."

How could you argue that?

"I didn't say you could take over my life."

"We had this discussion before," he explained, taking my arm and pulling me gently outside where the others couldn't see or hear us. There were a few people coming down the hall, I noted, before the doors had closed. "I cannot allow you to court other males, I apologize if this is an inconvenience for you."

Was that bitterness there or was I imagining that?

"I'm not that kind of girl!" I snapped. "But I didn't say you could act like a big scary gorilla and chase off perfectly pleasant individuals."

He looked away. Uh oh, why did I have a bad feeling about him looking off in the distance like that?

He turned back to me a moment later. "Keiko... "

I waited anxiously for him to continue.

"While I have a claim over you, I cannot allow you to see other males. If you cannot abide by this, please reject me outright presently."

It felt like the floor had dropped out from beneath me. I turned and began to walk away. I was running away again. I'd been running from the very first, hadn't I? Trying to escape what I didn't want to think about.

Kurama was serious about this.

Very serious.

Why couldn't I handle it?

* * *

The next afternoon I predicted sunny skies and happy days. Nothing ever goes like that but I was living in hope. 

I headed off from school, there were no club activities and intended to go home. Mom and Dad were working late a lot with expanding the shop and so I was getting a lot of alone time with the house.

My walk home was peaceful and I did everything I could to avoid thinking about Kurama. I had even avoided leaving my classroom so I didn't have to accidentally see him in the hall. Except for those one or two trips to the restroom, of course.

Now, successfully half way home, I was tired and well.. tired, really. Mainly that was my problem. I had too much to think about and I didn't want to think about any of it.

_"I didn't even do anything!" _

I came around the corner curiously and stared, taking careful note of everyone in front of me.

Kuwabara, Kurama, Yusuke, and Kirishima?

What was this?

Kuwabara looked torn. "Aww... You guys... Can't we settle this peaceful-like?"

"I'm perfectly willing to be peaceful as long as Kirishima abides by the rules. If he refuses to stay away from her I'll be forced to take action."

Kirishima scowled and advanced, a glower on his gentle face. "I don't have to take this from some uppity pretty boy!"

A sudden awareness dawned over me! That's why Kirishima looked so familiar. He was one of Kuwabara's friends!

Kuwabara grabbed the boy's collar and quickly placed himself between his two comrades. Yusuke appeared to be there just for the fun of it.

"Yo! Keiko! You here to see Kirishima get his ass kicked?"

Yusuke grinned and I frowned. "What's going on here?" I asked but the boys were all staring at each other like they couldn't look away or something disastrous would happen.

"It's just minor business, please don't worry over it, Keiko," Kurama answered.

I growled at him. Was he giving me orders? What was that? A gentle 'it's fine, go away now'?

"Does this have anything to do with the whole hallway thing because if it does-" I was interrupted when Kirishima again tried to get past Kuwabara.

"I don't have to be offended like this. Even if it wasn't about Yukimura, being called an impotent halfwit is going too far!"

"An impotent halfwit?" Kuwabara repeated, as if he couldn't quite believe it. "This is over a girl?"

The tone of his voice was incredulous as though he couldn't believe two of his friends were fighting over something so stupid. I fought not to be offended.

"Kurama, can you please tone it a down a bit?" I asked, not sure really what I should be saying.

He looked away from the other males and toward me.

"I told you what you had to do to get me to stop this, Keiko."

"But... it's not fair! You're not telling me everything, I know you aren't. I think you're leaving out everything you possibly can like you're getting some twisted enjoyment out of all of this!"

He didn't deny it. He grinned at me and his eyes sparkled. There was pride and deep self-satisfaction gleaming in his eyes and it looked so… appealing. Kurama had always been attractive but... I don't think I ever thought he was so startlingly... male? Maybe that was the wrong word. I shook off the feeling.

Yusuke was laughing. I realized, belatedly, I hadn't even heard him begin to laugh at us. At me, probably.

"She's right, you know," Yusuke finally spoke up as silence descended over our little group. "You aren't being fair."

I looked away as there was movement off to my side and I saw Kirishima next to me. "I apologize Yukimura, I didn't realize you were dating Minamino-san. I wouldn't have imposed on you earlier. "

He shot a hateful look back toward Kurama.

"Doesn't mean I like him," he hissed.

I nodded. "I'm really sorry Kirishima-san. Minamino-san and I are having a lot of miscommunications right now."

He smiled at me tenderly and I was sorry I hadn't noticed him before. He was cute and had a nice smile. Nothing like Kurama or that _look_ he'd sent me, but sweet all the same. With his head and shoulders bent slightly, he walked away, defeated and I felt bad for him.

I turned toward Kurama, angry.

"You will explain this whole thing you're doing right now, or-"

Yusuke's laughter interrupted. I glared at him.

"It's a youkai thing. You need to accept or reject his attentions. Accepting means giving him an offering, like he gave you... except different."

I crossed my arms, my patience wearing thin.

Kurama and Kuwabara just watched, well Kuwabara watched, clearly interested. Kurama seemed a bit displeased. I couldn't imagine was _he_ was upset about. I was on the verge of not caring. I was angry at _him._

"Oh! I got it! You need to give him something to show you're accepting his protection while you're courting and that you're the only male you're looking at."

I stared at him.

He grinned at me lecherously. "Give him a pair of panties."

I stopped tapping my foot; hardly aware I was doing it until just that moment. I frowned at him, but his expression didn't shift. He was serious. Kuwabara was staring at him too, but then he turned a questionable glance toward Kurama. I was leaving.

"Don't go."

I stopped and looked back. Kurama was staring at me.

"I refuse to wait any longer. I have waited long enough. Your answer now." Kurama's voice was soft and steady and his eyes trained directly upon me.

"Hey, Kurama, what's going on here?" Kuwabara asked.

I glanced at Kuwabara but he was glancing around, looking for answers.

"You and Keiko dating?" Kuwabara continued.

"I'm sorry. I can't do that," I answered.

Kurama didn't so much as fidget. He waited and said nothing.

"Hey, Urameshi, I thought Keiko was your girl?" Kuwabara continued, unhindered by the tense silence.

"Nah. Keiko's too much of a pain in the ass for me."

I spared Yusuke a glance.

"So… Kurama and Keiko are dating?"

Yusuke shrugged.

He wasn't going to let me leave without an answer?

"Um…"

Kuwabara frowned. "What the hell's going on here and what's it got to do with Kirishima?"

I sighed and glanced toward Kuwabara. "I apologize, Kuwabara. Like I said, Kurama and I aren't communicating well and its causing problems."

He turned to look back at me. "So, then you aren't dating Urameshi then?"

"Yusuke and I never dated. What girl legally sane would go out with him?"

Yusuke scoffed. "Hey! Just 'cause you're stuck on Starbutt over there doesn't mean I don't have a great ass too!" The young former-detective snapped. "Plenty of girls have ogled this ass!"

I was afraid he was about to do something completely embarrassing, so I grabbed Kurama's arm and began to pull him away.

"You know… I think Kurama and I need to do some talking. Good to see you Kuwabara, I'm really sorry about the other thing with Kirshima. He's such a sweet guy."

I smiled at him and Kuwabara nodded. "Yeah, it's okay."

Kurama was quite willingly walking away with me and I had hoped we were through with Yusuke and his badgering.

"Yo! Keiko! This mean you're skipping all the stages and going for the hot sex?"

I stopped walking; intent upon slapping him into next week, but Kurama slipped an arm around my shoulders, gently turned me about and kept walking. I fumed silently.

"Moron…" I mumbled.

Kurama seemed pleased. Why didn't that surprise me?

"So, Keiko, what would you like to discuss?"

As though we had the weather to chat about or something. My house was really close and I let him in without really thinking about it. I mean, it didn't really occur to me that we were –alone- in my house until the door clicked shut and that's always the worse time to realize it.

I dropped my school bag onto the floor, paying no attention to it and headed for the kitchen. "I'm going to grab a snack, want one?"

"Whatever you're having will be fine. Would you mind if I waited here?"

Of course I wouldn't mind. I just shook my head and headed into the kitchen. I ended up grabbing some leftovers from the fridge. But when I popped the lid from the plastic bowl the smell almost knocked me over.

How old was this?

Wait!

I stared at it a little closer, holding my nose. Correction: _what_ was it?

I threw the whole thing, container and all, into the garbage. Mom probably wouldn't notice.

I ended up preparing a little fruit plate. It was better than nothing and I didn't feel like cooking. Especially after I'd picked up three bags of fruit yesterday. When I re-entered the living room Kurama was on the couch and...

I almost dropped the plate in shock. What was that in his hands?

I quickly made my way toward the couch and sat the plate on the little table. "Where'd you get that?"

The little blue notebook that had started this mess was in his hands. I had put that in my school bag just last night intending to get rid of it. Somehow I'd gotten distracted and not done it.

Okay, fine, I had stood by the trashcan unwilling to drop it into the container.

"It fell out of your bag. I was most surprised."

He was smiling again and I was really beginning to get annoyed. I looked away.

"I want to straighten this mess out right now, Kurama."

"Do you dislike my presence, Keiko?"

Ugh, he sounded so… tender.

"No. It's not that I don't like you or anything like that. It's just a little odd. I mean, I know you as Kurama and everything but, you're still Minamino Shuichi and that person is mini-superstar, and I don't know you very well on top of that so…"

I sighed despairingly.

"Would you have felt this way had I asked you on a date?"

"Yes," I responded immediately. "Because it feels sudden and awkward and I really feel bad saying that, like I'm saying I don't like you, but I don't feel that way, really."

He sighed softly. "I shall tell you then, about our mating rituals if you like."

I nodded. "I would, please do."

"Fox youkai don't take life mates. Much like the normal foxes, they mate year to year, although there is a habit for taking the same female to mate if she can be found."

"You… Are you saying that you're going through this whole mating ritual thing and you'll only be interested for a year?"

Did I just hear that right?

"I'm saying foxes mate per year. I'm a fox youkai; it's not quite the same. When dealing with humans it's quite different."

There was a moment of silence and I reached for a slice of apple. Wasn't I so lucky?

"Would you like to go on a date, Keiko? A movie, perhaps?"

"No. I wouldn't like that, besides you're only asking because I'm a little weirded out about this whole thing."

He didn't deny that and I didn't know what to do. Should I have said 'yes' and just went with it or was I doing the right thing? What was the right thing?

"Do you have any questions?"

I sighed. "I don't know."

He stood. "Then I should be going. I have to make a tutoring session."

He tutored? I didn't ask as he was already at the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

I watched him walk out with a sense of disappointment. This situation hadn't gotten any better from the very first. I sighed and sat down. It was true enough, what I said to him. It was so complicated.

He really was a mini-superstar and his family was important to him, that I knew and plus he was a youkai. That was just… well… No, it didn't bother me, I could handle it. It wasn't exactly as though Yusuke were 100 percent human and he turned out ok.

Oh, no, now I'm thinking about kids with him! I sighed again.

Leave it to me to jump straight past dating and marriage to children. I was not planning for a family right now. Absolutely not.

But wow, what would they look like? I could just imagine a tiny red head of hair and beautiful, big green eyes… Aww, it was so sweet!

Realizing what I was doing, I quickly snapped myself back to reality. I liked Kurama, I did. But did I like Kurama enough to want to have kids with him?

Well…

That was not as complicated as I wanted it to be, because the answer was simple and I knew what it was. Yes.

I would have kids with Kurama. Any female not insane would, he was Kurama, after all, there couldn't be a better provider than him.

But that was just looking at it from practicality's point of view. How did I feel about Kurama personally?

What did I know about Kurama? I glanced at the notebook… Other than he had some really interesting thoughts about me?

I picked up the notebook and flipped through.

A splash of unfamiliar blue ink caught my eye. Especially since it hadn't been there before.

_"Keiko, _

_"I would like to express my sincerest apologies. I have made you uncomfortable and that was not my intention. It has occurred to me that perhaps my attentions are not wanted by you and you are simply too nice to say so. _

_"If that is the case- I understand. You needn't put up with my unusual behavior any longer. You needn't try to spare my feelings. _

_"So let us settle this matter. In two days I shall be leaving with my classmates on a weekend trip. If you would not be adverse to receiving more of my attentions, please meet me at the school garden out back Friday afternoon. If you do not appear, I will understand and you will have to say nothing of it." _

The letter ended without a signature, but really, who else could have written it?

So, he would meet me at the school garden. Okay, I would decide what to do before then.

But I knew already I would be going.

I couldn't just leave him out there waiting and me never showing up. That would be cruel.

And it wasn't as though I didn't like him.

Ugh.

I would work this out later. Yes, I was putting it off again. Maybe I just couldn't help it.

* * *

I stared at the note for two days. I tried even harder after that to avoid Kurama. I just didn't want to do this. I didn't want to do any of this. I was so confused and strung out. My parents were still working late; they had told me earlier in the week they didn't expect to be returning home upon normal hours for at least a few months. 

As I approached the garden on the appointed day my nerves were completely shot. I was just all sorts of anxious and tense. I loitered twenty long minutes in the bathroom as I debated whether or not to meet Kurama and chiding myself for not going sooner and equally berating myself for taking so long.

What if he left? What if he assumed I wasn't coming? I had read and analyzed every word of the letter he'd left in the notebook. I had skimped and added and morphed every word of it into something it wasn't. Speculation ran rampant in my little head.

I dragged my feet and stopped to talk to everyone and anyone along the way just to keep myself from having to go. When I reached the back doors that led into the garden, I glanced around.

I didn't seem him anywhere.

I pushed open the door and stepped outside. It would serve me right if he'd gone and left. I was being unfair and cowardly.

I was thoroughly disgusted with myself. I walked past the two bushes at the sides of the steps, glancing around rapidly. I was scanning the place, peering about for him. Where was he?

Was he gone?

Anxiousness and fear rode its way through me, holding tight and digging deep. The soil was a bit soggy from the hard rain we'd gotten just last night.

I'd laid awake and listened to it pour, trying to drown out my thoughts of Kurama. It hadn't worked, but everything was worth a shot once.

I stepped into the main circle of the garden where there were a couple of benches. The school garden was a project of the school Gardening Club and they took great pride in it.

"K-Kurama?" I called tentatively.

* * *

They watched her move into the main center of the garden, eyes caught between emerald and gold. Her movements were small and uncertain. Fear wafted from her in soft, rippling waves. Her body trembled slightly and she crossed her arms to cover her uncertainty, to afford herself more stability.

Her eyes flickered around wildly, searching.

Tenatively, she sat down on one of the old wooden benches and then stood up just as quickly, dusting off the back of her skirt.

He grinned.

The wood was wet.

"K-Kurama..?" se called, her voice soft and with a definite but slight tremble to it.

Kurama, she called, not Minamino-san or Shuichi.

A low, pleased growl rumbled through his throat and he stepped forward and headed toward her, approaching her from behind.

Humans were interesting creatures…

But sometimes they acted too much like prey…

* * *

AN: Ah... I forgot about this story, sorry. Rose reminded me.   



	4. Stage Four: Keiko

**Tension High**

**Part IV**

* * *

I was a little freaked out. He told me to meet him here and he wasn't here.

Yes, I was almost a half hour too late. I deserved to not find him here; I deserved to be forced to apologize to him. I deserved a lot of things right then.

But having a hand dropped on my shoulder and me practically jumping out of my shoes isn't something I would consider myself needing or deserving.

And wouldn't you know the person standing right behind me is him? I could've just… well, I was thinking I could've slapped him, but this is Kurama and I wouldn't quite dare.

So I ended up saying something lame. "You scared me!"

He smiled just slightly, his expression benign. "I apologize. I thought you weren't coming so I wandered around the garden a bit."

Oh.

"Are you in the gardening club?"

He shook his head. "Only student government."

Of course, he was our new treasurer, remember that?

I certainly did.

"I apologize, I hadn't intended on it raining. The benches are, unfortunately, wet."

I nodded. Yes, I'd discovered that already. There was a faint wet spot on my butt and I wasn't really thrilled about that.

"Kurama…" I started. "I just…"

"Please, allow me to do the speaking."

His voice was soft, but at the same time commanding and so I shut up. I wanted to know what he had to say anyway.

"Perhaps my attentions to you were sudden. I confess I expected you to come even if you didn't return my interest in you."

Expected me to come? Well, it would've been rude not to and… I didn't interrupt.

"You're too kind a person to be bothered with someone with whom you aren't interested in." He reached and took my hand between his and then brought it to his lips. He bowed over it and kissed it softly. He was so… sweet. "Please tell me at once you if you would like not to see me."

"Not see you?"

He smiled slightly. "Socially."

See him socially… that was like…dating, right?

He cleared his throat. "Courting, if you would prefer I didn't court you?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry."

He dropped my hand and stepped back a pace. "I understand. I appreciate your directness."

"No! No. I don't mean I don't want you to court me. I mean, its fine I just… it feels… it just feels sudden."

"Of course, I went about it in a way you are unaccustomed to. I've been thinking of it. Then, I would like to extend an invitation for you to dine with me."

"You want to have dinner?" I asked dumbly. I felt so stupid right then, obviously that's what he meant. I cursed myself for acting like a moron.

"Yes. We could take in an event or just dine together," he offered.

I really wanted to sit down and there was no logical reason for the feeling.

"Okay," I said. Simple, to the point.

Would 'yes' have been better? Maybe. I needed to get away from him. He made me over-analyze life in general.

"This evening then?"

Wow, that was sudden. He wasn't messing around, was he?

"Uh… sure, that would be okay."

I was going to be home alone anyway.

"In an hour, would that be suitable time?"

Time? Uh? Was this super formal or something?

"This isn't going to be expensive or really, really formal, is it?"

"Not if you don't want to."

I shrugged. "Not super-formal, okay? I don't think I have a dress for that kind of occasion."

"Of course, whatever you think is best."

He offered to walk me home and I declined. I wanted to get there and start agonizing over my clothes. I really didn't want him beside me as I agonized before I even got there.

I would see him in an hour; I assumed he'd call me.

At the school gates, we parted.

Anxiety coiled tight in my belly as I began to walk home.

I hoped the more I got to know Kurama this feeling went away.

When the official time came, I was in a panic. There were so many things I didn't know, so many things we hadn't talked about.

I mean, I didn't even know where we were going. Was he coming to my door? Was I going to his?

What?

When the clock chimed six and then I heard the knock on the front door, I thought he'd come to pick me up.

When I opened the door...

Well...

Yusuke!

The boy had the world's most amazing timing, I swear.

"So, I hear you and Starbutt are going out tonight, looking hot, Keiko."

He breezed past me and headed on inside. He ended up dropping himself down on the couch and propping up his feet.

"But before you go, we need to have a talk."

He sounded so serious, I thought he was. So I went over and sat down on a chair by the couch.

"About what?"

"You're getting older now, Keiko..." he started. "And with this being your first official date with a boy, I think there's a few things we need to talk about."

Huh?

He was joking again, wasn't he?

I kept my mouth shut and let him continue, determined that once this swirved into inappropriate territory, I'd slap him.

Of course, I could always just let him prattle on and not react at all, maybe that would discourage him from doing it in the future.

I didn't have high hopes, but wasn't everything worth a try at least once?

Okay, I take that back, weren't _most_ things worth a try once?

"...going out with that boy, Starbutt and we both know how girls are with him. They're willing to give their arms, legs and anything else if he so much as glances at them suggestively."

Huh?

Apparently, I had missed half his speech.

"But I don't want you thinking just because you're dating a popular boy you have to compromise your morals to-"

"What!" I screeched.

He curved a glance my direction. "I'll boil it down for you. No sex on the first date."

I glared at him, not sure what to say.

Was he serious?

He sounded serious, he really did.

He even _looked_ serious. I couldn't believe it.

When there came another knock at the door, Yusuke went to answer and I let him.

Don't ask why.

Maybe I just wanted him out of eyesight for a moment.

I never did like answering the door when I was home alone. I don't think any girl does really.

"Yo! Starbutt!"

I rolled my eyes.

At least I knew who was at the door.

Kurama came inside, I could hear his footsteps.

"What are you doing here, Yusuke?"

"Just giving Keiko some pointers. Don't want you getting fresh with her or anything."

Eh?

I turned around in my chair. "Yusuke!"

"Hey!" he turned back at me with a stern glance. "He's a youkai under that pretty human face and the only thing Youko's thinking is 'mate' and Youko is a big part of Kurama these days."

I scowled at him, both confused and irritated at his intervention.

Was Youko really thinking that? How much of Kurama was Youko? Was he _all_ Youko under that face like Yusuke said?

I stood up, feeling self conscious. Especially now that Yusuke had to come along and start talking about sex so... well.. blatantly.

Mind you, I wasn't dressed extravagantly or immodestly, but... I was wearing a skirt. Somehow the image of myself being pressed against a brick alley wall with Kurama's hands under my skirt was the first thing to pop into my head when Yusuke told Kurama not to "get fresh".

What an imagination I had...

"Yusuke, don't you have something better to do?"

He scoffed. "You should be thanking me for thinking about you. I know youkai a hell of a lot better than you do."

I couldn't argue there and how was I supposed to snap at him when he made it sound like he was worried about me like that?

"Right, well, shall we go?"

I grabbed Kurama's arm and for reasons unknown to me, he started grinning.

"I assure you I shall be a gentleman during the duration of our date, Keiko."

I paused at the door. "Does that mean you're not so much of a gentleman after the date is over?"

His smiled widened. "Only if you want me to be."

* * *

The date went... well, it went, let's put it that way. We had dinner and he brought me home. 

It wasn't really that boring. The problem I had with the date was simple. I couldn't stop having little daydreams about Yusuke's comment and Kurama's behavior.

No, he didn't do anything inappropriate, but I _imagined_ him doing inappropriate things.

You know what the problem was?

I'll tell you what I think...

I think there was something on those seeds that Kurama placed in my room. And when I touched them, it got all over me.

I think I'm infected.

With what? Now that part I'm not sure about...

Of course, yes, I know I'm being ridiculous and paranoid again.

When we were sitting at the table and he reached for the salt... I'm not sure I even want to remember this...

I was wearing this blouse and it had this little key hole at the front with a button. It was like a circular cut out showing my flesh, nothing revealing and nothing dirty, just a little elegant design.

This is embarrassing even to remember...

I imagined him taking the salt shaker and ...

**shake**

**shake**

**shake**

Right through the keyhole of my blouse and down my shirt. Worse yet, I imagined him getting up and trying to get his tongue far enough down the key hole to lap at the salt.

Why was I fantasizing about salt?

Go figure...

Maybe it was that weird sweat fantasy from the journal, maybe I was weird.

Anyway, the night only got stranger from there...

I also imagined him sliding his foot between my thighs underneath the tablecloth, it didn't happen.

Giving me suggestive glances and smiles, this may have happened, I wasn't entirely sure.

When we left, there was a resurgence of the hands under my skirt, back against a brick wall fantasy, only I imagined him doing a lot more than just touching.

I was out of my mind when we reached my doorstep. I was jittery and well... hot, let's say that.

My skin felt literally hot.

On my doorstep he leaned forward and gave me a chaste kiss.

"Chaste" wasn't the word for it really, "elementary", "school yard kiss" were really better terms.

It was a brief smack of lips and it was over.

Reason?

Yusuke had opened the door and was staring right at us like an angry father.

I wanted to kill him.

In fact, once Kurama left, I tackled him onto the couch. Didn't get anywhere, but I made the effort.

He just laughed at me.

Jerk.

He actually spent the night crashed on the couch. I could hear him snoring when my parents got home.

* * *

I sighed. It was Saturday morning and I was insane. 

He was in a park, away from the city, with school people and worse, Asuka was with him.

Now don't get me wrong, Asuka was okay. Moderately okay.

Did I trust her with Kurama?

Not by a long shot.

Asuka had the kind of sweet, clingy personality that defined "fan girl" and I wasn't about to let her have her way with Kurama. I was beginning to … well… what I was feeling wasn't the issue.

I could see her kneeling down on the ground with him as they stared at plant leaves. She would ask him how he knew so much and gush over his botanical knowledge and I would feel like gagging.

They would walk through the woods and she would hear a noise and grab onto his arm, clinging to him.

I growled lowly and laid back on the couch.

They would pass under high trees with low hanging branches and find themselves a tiny little oasis away from the others.

Kurama would see no one around and push her back against the tree as Youko urged him, 'mate!'

I leapt off the couch.

Oh no!

What if he was really feeling that way?

I didn't want to be abandoned.

I wanted Kurama to continue to _court_ **me**!

Sure, maybe I hadn't been thrilled at first, but really, was it so bad? I mean, how many people got to experience something like this anyway?

I ran for the stairs to grab my bag and then ran back down for my shoes at the door.

That little hussy!

That horny bastard!

I would see for myself if it was really happening.

Otherwise, I was checking myself into a psychiatric institution for monitoring.

* * *

Deciding to go after Kurama and his classmates proved to be an ill-conceived plan. I had no money, no lodgings, and no one knew I was coming here.

Fantastic planning on my part.

There was one thing in my favor though, the park turned out to be amazingly popular and well-known, so I found it easily.

The bad thing?

There's always a good thing and a bad thing, by the way.

The bad thing was that Kurama and his friends weren't the only people there.

No.

There were people everywhere.

And why shouldn't there be, it was a weekend after all, another thing I hadn't considered.

Kurama's group was small, consisting of four people.

Four.

How was I going to find a group of four in a gigantic park?

I didn't know, but there were too many people milling about in the open grassy section, so I took a detour and headed toward the wooded path. There was a sign there, 'wooded path', and that was helpful. I walked along, and it got quieter as it got deeper. I didn't see many people around actually. It wasn't encouraged to leave the trail, it was too easy to get lost. 'That had been on the copious rules boards out front. I remember that one especially. There was also a 'no swimming rule'.

I could suddenly see poor Asuka having fallen in tragically and requiring rescue, the poor girl's clothes clung to her body.

Youko would howl and-

Yeah, I was getting out of hand, wasn't I? Some people never learn and some never listen and some were just crazy.

Anyway, the woods smelled nice but the ground felt a bit soggy. Maybe it had rained here as it had the day before where I lived. Seemed reasonable.

Although the day had been sunny it was shady and still damp out here. I stopped to touch my hands to a dewy leave near the foot of the trail off to one side.

I thought I was alone, so the sudden voices surprised me.

"Oh, Minamino-san! It's so hard! Can I touch it?"

Asuka?

Hard?

Touch what?

"Of course, Asuka-san. Touch it all you like..."

Kurama?

That was Kurama!

What was he letting her touch?

"Ooooh. Thank you so much for showing this to me, Minamino-san." "Please, call me Shuichi, won't you, Asuka-san?"

The girl sighed with wonder as though he'd just given her a precious wonder or something. "It would be an honor to call you by your first name... Shuichi."

I had just about had it. It seemed like all my worst fears were on the brink of being realized and all he could do was smile, no doubt he was smiling, and over her free, casual use of his first name?

Were they gonna strip down and do it against the tree while they were at it? She was already touching something _hard_, wasn't she?

I growled and almost leapt out of the bushes at them but stopped when Asuka continued.

"Shall we catch up with the others now?"

Kurama's response was delayed only momentarily. "Of course."

I, being a super-sleuth for the day, followed along behind them.

I was really getting into this now. I was irritated and suspicious and feeling like a cross between a detective and a superhero. I was here to save Kurama from the sticky fingers of evil man-stealing super villainess Asuka.

Yeah, see, I told you I was getting out of hand.

Apparently, I hadn't eaten enough for breakfast or something.

Foliage crunched pleasantly underfoot, but no one seemed to notice me.

I ducked behind trees and peered around leaves and branchy outcroppings. Only when I was down on my knees, crouched behind a strange looking hedge and about to fall over because part of the ground behind me was wet did I realize I probably looked like a complete idiot.

"Hey, Minamino-san, what's up with you and Yukimura?"

I straightened.

What?

What, what?

All the muscles in my back and shoulders seemed to tense up. I yelped and slapped a hand over my mouth and lost my base of support as the hand I was using to keep my knees from getting wet… Ugh, let's just say, I tipped over.

It was so comically un-funny.

I had wet leaves sticking to my legs and wet spots on my uniform when I got back onto my feet again.

By some insane kind of miracle the others had started to laugh and missed my bout of clumsiness entirely. Only now I was worried because I hadn't heard what they were laughing about and I feared it was me.

Fantastic.

"So you are dating then, right? She's like your girl?"

There were three boys in this group and one girl, Asuka, lucky girl. Or at least that's what some of the girls at school had been saying. The ones that weren't cursing her existence, of course.

I hadn't really thought anything about it, or was trying not to, until … well… yesterday or so.

I frowned.

They finished whatever they had been examining, and as they straightened, one of them tossed something casually away and straight toward me.

If something weird or bad can happen, it will.

It was an acorn.

It missed.

Yeah… I was silently cheering I hadn't gotten bonked on the head by an acorn and they were walking away.

I hurried to catch up discreetly.

I was gonna get caught, I just knew it.

I was feeling so pessimistic lately.

Kurama hadn't replied to the dating question, I wasn't out of it enough to know that. I'd been listening this time.

They weren't getting any more free laughs at my expense.

"Keiko and I are exploring our options," Kurama answered at length.

"Exploring your options… Heh…" the two boys laughed. "Exploring the mysteries beneath her skirt maybe?"

Asuka had wandered away a bit and the last comment was muttered, I, however, had still managed to hear it.

I started to stand up and march over and punch him in the face, but stopped short when I heard heavier footsteps approaching from another direction.

"Che, nah, that means he prances around acting like some perfect boy toy boyfriend and Keiko gets to stare at his ass, right Starbutt?"

Yusuke?

YUSUKE?

What was he doing here?

I hunched down further afraid he'd followed me here.

If he called me out of the bushes and I had to crawl out dirt-smudged and semi-wet I'd be mortified.

The young males exchanged watery smiles, not sure if they were supposed to laugh or not laugh.

They backed up several paces as Yusuke closed in.

Kurama crossed his arms, his mouth thinning into an impersonal frown. "What are you doing here, Yusuke?"

Yusuke returned the frown with a glower. "Keiko's mom called me in a fit of panic because Keiko isn't answering the phone and she's supposed to be home all day."

"What brings you out here?" Kurama asked coolly.

Yusuke cocked his head to the side. "You know damn well what brings me out here." He turned a sharp glance toward the cowering young males that were Kurama's classmates. "Get lost."

They took off.

Asuka had wandered off beyond sight and I forgot about her for the most part as I observed my two friends about to engage in a stare-down or something.

Were they really, I wondered, about to fight or something?

It was looking anything but pleasant.

"Yeah, hey, don't do anything I won't have to kick your ass for on Monday, got that?" Yusuke warned, his tone clipped and raised.

Kurama merely stared back at him impassively. "I have no intentions of doing any such thing."

"Don't bullshit me and no kidding around. Call Keiko's mother as soon as you get back to the hotel."

Yusuke turned on his heel to go just as abruptly as he'd showed up.

I took a brief glance around as I noticed him do the same. I was just darting my eyes around the area when…

I spotted eyes.

Brown, bright eyes…

Looking right at me.

I swear my heart could've stopped right there.

It was Asuka.

She was standing behind a tree not more than a few feet away, eavesdropping as I was.

Oh, crap.

I stared at her, she stared at me.

We seemed equally frozen until footsteps, again, interrupted.

I looked up, but it was too late.

"Please…"

Kurama's voice was soft and urging.

"Come out now."

I didn't move.

Did he mean me? Or Asuka? No doubt he knew both of us where there, right?

Oh crap, that mean he'd known the whole time, didn't it?

I was so lame…

I looked up.

Yusuke was gone and Kurama was not where I had last seen him. In fact, he was now directly between me and Asuka and staring… you guessed, at me.

Wasn't I lucky?

No, no…

I was stupid.

What was I thinking coming out here like this?

Staring into his tender green eyes, I couldn't think of _anything._

I felt like the biggest, ugliest skin boil on the planet.

Why?

Why me?

I was in agony.

"Hello, Keiko."

And he could greet me so casually?

Me, hunched down in the dirt, wet and with pine sap between my fingers?

Ugh.

Behind him, Asuka moved so she was just to the side of us.

"Um… I'm gonna go find the others, okay?"

She didn't wait for an answer, she just went and I was grateful; the less people about to witness one's humiliation, the better.

He came forward to help me up, but I felt offended and rejected his offered hand, standing on my own.

I felt self-conscious and vulnerable and… well… stupid.

"Your parents are worried," he stated.

"Yeah. I should've called before I left, I wasn't thinking."

I mentally slapped myself.

Wrong thing to say!

"What brings you so far out of town?" he asked his tone perfectly even.

"Um…" I shifted nervously. I was going to lie and say 'sightseeing', but then I met his eyes and I couldn't. "I sorta got out of hand with something. It was silly."

"What was that?"

How could he ask me that so directly?

I sighed. "Just the whole trip thing. I mean, the you and Asuka, I mean… I know, she's like… clingy, that's mean of me to say I don't mean in that way I just… I worried a little."

"So you came to spy on me?"

How could he stand there and act like we were talking about next week's weather?

"Yes. I behaved like a complete juvenile and followed you here, I didn't call my mother, I didn't bring the things I needed, I did something stupid because of some stupid delusional jealousy and, wow I shouldn't have said that out loud."

"So then… " He took a step forward. "This is your formal acceptance of me? Your mad-dash here to save me from the clutches of another female?"

He was definitely smirking.

Figures that he'd be entertained by this, I thought.

"I wouldn't call it a mad-dash…" I started hesitantly.

He took another step forward.

He was close enough now to take my hand and he brought it up to his mouth, breathing across the back of my fingers. His lips followed, kissing my knuckles gently.

I brought a hand up to fan my face feeling my cheeks flame slightly.

He was so amazing sometimes!

Why didn't other guys act so sweet?

He brought his eyes up and grinned at me.

I frowned and pulled my hand back. I wasn't one of his flustered admirers.

"But you were driven here in a rush to save me from Asuka-san weren't you? To protect your claim on me?" he paused as he straightened up, smiling. "I'm flattered, truly."

I crossed my arms, feeling insecure. "I guess… this whole thing, I mean. It's okay. I'd like to."

His grin widened fractionally.

"I mean! Not the mating part, that we'll have to go slow with. I mean, you know, the courting/dating part."

He nodded. "Of course. I apologize for my unorthodox approach to wooing you."

There was something about the way he said that that had me smiling. Don't ask what, it was the kind of thing you had to be there for.

But I was happy.

Really.

I mean, I wasn't about to head off to a temple and get married or hop into his bed or anything, but I'd like to date him I think. After all, this is Kurama…

I spent the rest of the afternoon with the group. The others had been surprised to see me; the boys had kept away to some extent. I really didn't mind.

* * *

Asuka bounced along happily as though nothing at all had happened. 

As the afternoon wound down and we headed back to the hotel where _they _were staying, Asuka pulled me aside. Kurama said he'd wait for me in the lobby and Asuka and I headed back outside.

The overcast sky was making me feel kind of iffy about the weather, but I didn't think it would rain before we got back inside, but maybe not before I got to the train station. I had told myself I was going home.

"Um, Keiko?"

"Hmmm..." I looked toward Asuka curiously.

"Is everything okay with you?" the girl asked, her tone soft, questioning. "I mean, earlier, with you hiding in the bushes and all…"

I shook my head, trying not to blush. "Yeah, I guess I was being silly. But you were hiding too."

Asuka smiled. "I didn't mean to. I was just coming back when I realized he was talking to someone and I didn't want to interrupt."

It sounded believable and I didn't really have any bad feelings for Asuka, I realized, as I stood in front of her. She was just a nice classmate.

She smiled at me.

"So, you and Minamino-san are a couple, right?" She clasped her hands together. "That's so wonderful! But be careful at school. Some of his fan club members are whacky."

I smiled. "Yes, I know. Thanks for the warning though."

She teased me a little about catching the school stud and we headed back inside. Kurama was waiting near the check-in counter. He smiled and waved to Asuka as we headed upstairs.

"You're going to call your parents now, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, I need to tell them I'll be a little late," I answered.

"You could stay here," he offered. His back was to me so I couldn't see if he was grinning or anything.

"Um… I think I'll go home, but thank you."

"You're sure you wish to travel alone? It's going to storm."

I shook my head. "I'll be okay. I traveled here alone this morning and it isn't that late."

Nature took the opportunity to make itself known. It rumbled eerily outside and I walked to the window and peeked out. The sky's gentle overcast had turned fierce and dark.

I could see the wind blowing the trees and hear it against the building.

"Perhaps you could stay a while?" he suggested.

I sighed. Well, I didn't see the harm in that, so I agreed.

I would stay a bit, how long could it possibly storm?

I glanced around. I was more than a little surprised to see greenery in the hotel room. I know they didn't belong to the hotel.

I was astonished he brought his own plants. Who did that kind of stuff?

I took a seat, not on the bed, but in a chair. But the chair was close to the bed, so I got up and moved it toward the window. I pulled open the drapes and peered outside.

He was on the 30th floor, we were up there. I could see the trees down below and the rain against the windows and... the building felt like it was moving just a little and... well, it was semi-creepy.

I wondered if the electric would go out.

Kurama sat himself on the bed and faced me.

"I think this all ended quite splendidly," Kurama remarked.

I looked up from the carpet where I'd dropped my eyes.

Do you know I just realized something? I was in a _hotel room_ with Kurama _alone._

Now, let that sink in a moment.

_Alone _and he was on the _bed_!

I found myself looking away again, just so I wouldn't have to stare at him there.

"Um... I suppose so."

What did that mean anyway?

Why did I feel like making a mad dash toward the door?

Was I letting this get to me?

I thought I saw something move. I glanced toward the head of the giant western bed. Did that plant just twitch?

Kurama stood and walked toward the night stand. "That reminds me. Since it came up earlier, I had wanted to demonstrate for you."

I looked toward him. I suddenly had goose bumps.

What did he want to demonstrate?

He curled his fingers beneath one broad leaf and tilted it up as though lifting its chin and stroked it on the underside.

"This is a Calla."

"A Calla?" I asked. "Like... the Calla Lily?"

He seemed a bit surprised and I was a bit offended. Did he think I knew _nothing_ about plants?

He nodded slightly. "It is related, yes, to the Calla Lily."

"Um… well, what does it do?"

He smiled thinly. "Come closer, I want you to see the bloom."

I didn't see a bloom, but I came closer anyway. After all, I trusted him. I came up next to him and leaned down, reaching out to touch it, looking for the elusive bud in the foliage. I didn't see one.

"Be patient, lovely one," Kurama murmured. "You have to wait."

Lovely one?

Should I contest that or just let it go?

"Here."

He pulled back a leaf and a green bud appeared. Slowly, it opened.

"Smell it, it has a lovely fragrance."

Hesitating slightly, I did and he was right. It had a beautiful scent, so soothing and…

I stood up and suddenly everything seemed to shift.

I reached out to grab Kurama and I felt the fabric of his shirt slip through my fingers as I moved. Backwards… down…

My vision dimmed.

What?

What was this?

My vision of the room dimmed to two pin points and then disappeared. I never felt myself hit the floor. I thought I felt the warmth of hands.

Maybe I didn't.

* * *

I woke sometime later. How much later I couldn't say, I just knew I had passed out and then I was awake. I wondered briefly if Kurama had sinister motives and then reconsidered that. Why would he want to knock me out on purpose? The whole mating thing took place when I was awake, right? My eyes fluttered and opened slowly.

There was a body next to me on the bed. I didn't have to think about who it was, I knew… oh, did I ever know… my gosh! Kurama was on the BED with me in a hotel ALONE. I suddenly thought of all those girly shoujo mangas and the "love hotels" and sex. My gosh, my gosh, my gosh! I needed to get up, immediately.

Only, I couldn't.

There was a hand pressed to my abdomen. It was a strange possessive gesture, almost protective; something a mother would do if she had a baby growing in there.

No, Keiko, no thoughts of babies OR how babies are made.

"K-Kurama?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes, Keiko?" he sounded so casual. How did he do it?

Something from much earlier suddenly reoccurred to me.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." He shifted behind me bringing his mouth near to my ear. I could feel his breath. "Ask anything."

"H-how much of you is Yuko?"

"What would you say if I said all of me is Youko?" he asked without hesitation. In fact, his voice was kind of breathy.

"Is that possible?"

I felt his lips curl into a smirk. "Youko and I are… merging. We no longer have specific boundaries of personality and power. Everyday our personalities coil tighter, but I very much doubt you'll ever notice a difference."

"So does that make what Yusuke said true? That all the Youko part of you thinks about is sex?" I was very hesitant about approaching this point and I thought he seemed a bit hesitant to answer.

"There are other things we think about, but we have been rather preoccupied with the courting lately. Don't let it worry you; it is normal course of nature for us."

I sighed and bit my lip. "Okay, one more thing. Is the… now that I've… accepted… you, does that mean we've reached the last stage of the courting?"

"No, there's one stage left. It can sometimes be the longest." I could swear he was grinning again.

"What stage is that? Or am I not allowed to know?" I asked cheekily.

"The last stage of the courtship is consummation, as it is in all courtships."

I sat up. "I see."

He sat up beside me; he was uncomfortably close and got even closer right at my back. His hands came to rest upon my hips and he rested his chin on my shoulder and I didn't know what to do.

"Did you purposely knock me out with that plant?" I asked a harsh tone to my voice. As harsh as I could muster at least, I was so nervous my hands were shaking. I pressed them down against my legs.

He wasn't upset by the question that I could tell. Actually, I think he was amused and his answer afterwards seemed to indicate it. "Why? So I could have my naughty way with you? Of course not Keiko," he murmured thickly. "I promised you I would be a perfect gentleman. The mating is a two person activity and is not effective if one of the mates is… ah… unresponsive."

"What do you mean 'not effective'?" I stiffened. Was he trying to get me pregnant or something? It wasn't a magic youkai ritual or anything, was it? Why didn't he ever give me any details?

"Poor choice of words, I apologize. It would not be polite, certainly and it would not be proper. No part of youkai culture calls for the taking of a mate by such means, at least, not among foxes. I cannot vouch for other species."

"Charming," I replied.

I scooted away from him and walked toward the door.

Air, air, precious air… I needed some. Kurama kept getting closer and closer to me and I wasn't sure I was comfortable with where it was leading. I found myself "caught" before I reached the door.

Actually, I found myself _against_ the door and Kurama in front of me, tall, imposing, and beautiful. His eyes glinted. He leaned closer and closer until his nose just barely touched mine and I could feel his breath against my lips.

"I won't rush you, Keiko, but if you're going to run, I'll warn you now…" he tilted his head and leaned even closer so his lips were against the shell of my ear. "I'll chase you."

He stepped back and I pulled the door open and almost fled into the hall. As far as I could tell, he didn't follow.

* * *

I wasn't sure what I was doing or where I was going. I knew Asako was in the building but I didn't know which room, I wasn't sure if the person at the desk would tell me. I supposed I could always go down and ask. I started heading in that direction when turning a corner, I thought a saw a flash of red behind me. I turned back to see the hall was completely empty.

Then I recalled something that had some fifteen minutes earlier made my heart pound in fear or excitement, I never was quite sure, Kurama said if I was going to run that he'd chase me. Did… didn't I run from the room?

Run, literally, take off down the hall?

I stopped cold.

But he hadn't followed me, right? He wouldn't be stalking around the corridors of the hotel, there wasn't any place that he could hide and that hair would give him away so easily and yet… I didn't see him, I didn't have any real reason to suppose he _had _followed me only those parting words and…

My problem with my reasoning was that he _would_ stalk down the corridors and chase me.

Fox youkai.

Fox.

Prey.

Running, catch, eat…

Except he didn't want to eat me and I was sure I was stumbling upon some silly cliché by assuming but he was a fox, right? I thought again of shoujo mangas and silly storylines and love hotels. Except stories of this nature usually included wild runs in the forest and equally wild rutting on the ground once the girl was caught.

I shook my head.

For berating it so much I certainly knew a lot about it, didn't I? Clearly, I was pathetic.

"You need to get out more, Keiko. Less studying, less reading of girly mangas." If talking to myself helped, I wasn't quite sure but I liked the sound of my voice. It made it easier to ignore the fact I thought I could hear my heart beating.

That was creepy.

I decided to take the stairwell.

Not a smart move if someone was following you, but I suspected that I was being silly again and that he wasn't following me and if he was I'd have a better chance of catching him doing it.

And if he was following me, I did want to catch him doing it. I pushed open the stairwell doors and it creaked.

Loudly.

That simple detail made me absurdly happy. I walked down a few steps and stopped and waited. I was out of sight of the door but I could hear him should he open it.

I waited and waited and waited and felt like an utter fool so I started down. I decided that I'd get to the next floor and then step out and grab an elevator. I had scarcely reached the 29th floor exit when I heard the loud creak of the door above me and light footsteps on the stairs.

Quickly, I ducked down a few more so that I would be hidden. I saw, to my amazement and excitement…

Kurama.

He opened the door to the 29th floor and stepped out. I quickly dashed up, waited a few seconds that felt like positive years and then pulled open the door.

The halls were deserted.

They were long, open halls! There were no alcoves, nothing! Where the heck did he go?

Where?

He was stalking me wasn't he? Blending in like an absolute chameleon and I couldn't see him.

Not fair!

I turned around, pulled open the stairwell door and flew up the stairs to the 30th floor exit and pulled that door open. I ran toward Kurama's room.

It was 3025.

3025.

A completely insignificant number, why did I remember it so well?

_Because it was Kurama'_s a voice in my head whispered.

I tested the door knob. It was unlocked. I pushed open the door and gasped.

My heart was thudding so hard it felt like it was beating against my rib bones. It could've exploded right there.

Sitting on the bed… was Kurama.

He looked so innocent sitting there. So nonchalant, as though he _hadn't_ been stalking me in the building. I stepped in and closed the door staring straight at him. He met my gaze unflinchingly.

"Kurama…" I murmured. "How did you get back here so quickly?"

"I beg your pardon?"

I narrowed my eyes and leapt.

Bodily leapt straight at him.

I landed on the bed, on him, on both very clumsily. My forehead knocked his and it hurt but my frustration was at the boiling point. I would shake answers out of this secretive fox if I had to.

"How'd you get back to the room so quickly after chasing me around the building?" I asked, straightening my body so I was straddling him. He had fallen backwards and was now laying on the bed sideways the pillows to the left of us.

I thought he'd deny it, I thought he'd play innocent.

He licked his lips and I thought his teeth gleamed at me. "I'm a fox youkai, Keiko," he murmured.

For a moment, his eyes flickered gold and I pounced.

There were no words to describe me then. I was ravenous.

Ravenous!

I wanted to consume him and it was overwhelming and astonishing and I wondered if it had something to do with him and this whole youkai business because I'd never felt like this in my entire life. I all but threw myself at him, my mouth crushed down upon his.

He certainly didn't seem to mind, his mouth and body as responsive as my own. His hands came up and tangled in my hair and I moaned. I was so gone on something; I was high on lust… I wondered, briefly, how I'd rationalize this later. Even more briefly I thought of Yusuke and repressed laughter.

No sex on the first date indeed… what about the second?

His hands slipped from my hair and then they felt like they were everywhere. I wanted to melt, I could have, I was sure of it. Suddenly the thought of "love hotels" wasn't quite so icky. My whole body felt hot. I thought of lots of things while he kissed me, the notebook entries, the date, the seeds, Yusuke and those ridiculous names…. When his hands settled at the hem of my blouse and he pulled it over my head, those things all disappeared, my mind blanked.

All I could see was Kurama, his eyes burned.

He shifted, moved beneath me, he sat up and I was shifted backwards. The hands at my back traveled up and my bra clip came undone. I thought absently he handled that a bit too easily but then, didn't Kurama do everything well? The fabric loosed about my ribs and I grabbed at it pulling it away. My skin was flushed. I felt odd, hot and odd, and somehow I knew something was different but I couldn't stop to think about it.

He leaned forward and pressed his mouth against my shoulder, my clavicle. His kisses were wet and open-mouthed against my skin. I could feel his teeth.

Perfect.

So perfect.

Why had I been resistant to this before?

Too much waiting.

I pushed back and he conceded falling back onto the bed. His eyes were a lit, his mouth turned up at the corners. He didn't look the slightest worried that I was about to walk out on him. Not that it had crossed my mind but…

I would've bit him if I could've.

He growled.

I looked up to see his eyes were now fully golden, no flickering.

"You're ready for me, aren't you?"

I was.

"Kurama… now… stop… waiting…"

He lifted his head and stared. The eyes weren't gold anymore but green with wild golden streaks.

Merging.

I wondered how far along they were but then, at that moment, I didn't really care. I wanted Kurama.

He licked his lips again as he sat up. Was it to draw my attention to his mouth?

"Kurama…" if it was a plea or a command I don't know.

* * *

When I woke up I was still in the bed. Evening had fully set, Kurama was snuggled behind me.

"What's a rutting heat?"

He grinned against my neck. "That's the first thing on your mind?"

"Of course it is. I jumped you like a wild animal. I didn't have time to be properly ashamed of myself at the time, so clearly I have to make up for that."

I'd actually been awake several long minutes contemplating how to talk to him about this. I suspected he knew that. He'd mentioned it to me before in the midst of things and I'd simply been too... "preoccupied".

"You needn't be ashamed at all. It's perfect and natural in the course of the courtship. The rutting heat typically affects the female and is brought about by numerous things, but it's triggered sometime after the female acceptance in stage three."

"So you knew this would happen?"

Why did that bother me?

Did it?

I thought it over.

Yes, it did. It was Kurama keeping more secrets! We needed to have a talk about that.

"No, actually. With humans one can never tell how it will affect them, that's part of what makes it so fun."

Fun?

Was that part of Youko's personality there?

Ah, well this was going to be an adventure, wasn't it?

"Does it happen more than once?"

I felt strange suddenly, amused, and it wasn't my own amusement. My goodness, where did the side-effects of this thing stop! Was it his amusement I felt?

"Very perceptive of you, Keiko. Because you are not a youkai and you have no youki of your own, your rutting heat is triggered by _my_ youki."

I suddenly went very still. "Does that mean you can do this to me whenever you want?"

He shifted so his face was leaning over mine, he was grinning. "Oh yes."

I wanted to push him away from me and rail about how horribly unfair it was… but his eyes were glinting and my body was slightly tingling. I suddenly wanted to kiss him.

Later, I determined, I was going to give him a tongue lashing that would sting for weeks!

* * *

AN: Heavily edited, I hope edited enough. It should be okay since nothing actually happens up there. A higher rating version is available but not yet posted anywhere, maybe at the Keiko's Demon's ML.

_Is this the end?_

No. The story starts over with Kurama and you get to learn about all the stuff that was left out. It will pick up as part 5 following this chapter. See you next time around.


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